Biocompatibility of 13-93 Bioactive Glass-SiC Fabric Composites

Bioactive glass (BG) finds limited use as a bone replacement material owing to its low mechanical properties. In order to solve this problem, the micro-sized 13-93 BG was prepared as a fabric composite with SiC microfibers, and its mechanical properties and biocompatibility were investigated in this study. The tensile strengths of BG-SiC fiber-bundle composites increased in proportion to the number of SiC fibers. In particular, even when only one SiC fiber was substituted, the tensile strength increased by 81% to 1428 MPa. In the early stage of the in-vitro test, a silica-rich layer was formed on the surface of the 13-93 BG fibers. With time, calcium phosphate grew on the silica-rich layer and the BG fibers were delaminated. On the other hand, no products were observed on the SiC fibers for 7 days, therefore, SiC fibers are expected to maintain their strength even after transplantation in the body.