β-Dicalcium Silicate Cement Modified with β-Tricalcium Phosphate: In Vitro Bioactivity and Mechanical Strength

Abstract

Calcium-silicate cement mainly based on dicalcium-silicate (C2S) was synthesized by the mean of solid state reaction. Beta-C3P was added to C2S to obtain C2S-C3P. Zinc oxide and bismuth oxide was incorporated to prepare radioc cement. In this work, the bioactivity and the mechanical strength of the synthesized cement were investigated. The in vitro test was carried out by immersion of cement pastilles in the artificial saliva in different periods from 4 hours to 30 days. Whereas the mechanical strength of some samples was operated at 28 and 72 days. The specimens are characterized by X-ray diffraction , Infrared spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy. The finding results indicated that hydroxyapatite may appear after 24 hours of soaking; it was also shown that the presence of C3P with a small amount of the cement can enhance the bioactivity and develop more resistance strength of cement. Moreover, the addition of zinc oxide and bismuth oxide increase the radiopacity of the cement. However, the mechanical strength enhances with the incorporation of the zinc oxide while decrease with bismuth oxide. It was concluded then that there is possibility of combining addition of C3P (10%) and an agent radiopacifiers ZnO/Bi2O3(15%) with small amounts on C2S to obtain a cement with excellent bioactivity, good mechanical strength and significante radiopacity that makes this material a great candidate as a biomaterial for biomedical use.