Electrical Characteristics of Hydroxyapatite (Ca)x(BaTiO 3)1-x Composite

Hydroxyapatite (HAp) material that resembles to natural bone is the most widely used material for dental and orthopedic applications. Poor electrical and mechanical properties of hydroxyapatite limit its applications in implants. In the present work, the electrical properties on Hydroxyapatite (Ca) x(BaTiO3)1-x composite which contains 10 vol. % of (Ca)x(BaTiO3)1-x were investigated to improve the strength and bone growth. The structural properties of this composite were studied using XRD. The values of dielectric constant and loss tangent for the composite, measured at 1KHz frequency and room temperature were 10.88 and 0.02 respectively. The piezoelectric characteristics were studied using AFM.

The composite shows very small piezoelectric behavior which is mainly due to the presence of a small amount of BaTiO3 in the composite. The piezoelectric coefficient for the composite measured by D33 meter is 1.7 pC/N. The structural properties and dielectric values shows resemblance to the hydroxyapatite material. In comparison with other HAp composites, the HAp-(Ca)x(BaTiO3)1-x composite studied shows higher piezoelectric value. From the above properties, Hydroxyapatite (Ca) x(BaTiO3)1-x composite can be a promising material for biomedical applications.