Obtenção e caracterização de espumas de cimento de fosfato de cálcio: Avaliação dos métodos de emulsão e gelcasting

Abstract

In Tissue Engineering, the need for scaffolds which are capable of guiding the organization, differentiation and growth of cells leading to the formation of new tissues is highly relevant. For the development of new scaffolds focused on bone tissue therapy, calcium phosphate cements (CPC) have great potential, because besides their resorbability, they present morphology and chemical composition similar to the bone mineral phase. Moreover, there are several processing techniques to produce ceramic scaffolds: polymeric sponge replication, incorporation of organic material into the ceramic powder, gelcasting, emulsion, among others. The aim of this work was to obtain CPCs foams by using two processing routes, emulsion and gelcasting. The foams were characterized by their physical and mechanical properties and the crystalline phases formed after the setting reaction of cement were determined by X-ray diffraction. The samples obtained by both methods presented porosity between 58-62% and the microstructure consists of nearly spherical pores (d50 = 50-100 μm). The mechanical strength of the samples ranged from 5.5 to 1.5 MPa. The crystalline phases found were monetite (CaHPO4) and brushite (CaHPO4 2H2O).