Microwave synthesis of hydroxyapatite bioceramic and tribological studies of its composites with SrCO3 and ZrO2

Hydroxyapatite (HAp) powders were prepared successfully using microwave-assisted co-precipitation method. HAp powder was characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and Raman spectroscopy for structural confirmation of the prepared material. Further, six composites of HAp with SrCO3 and ZrO2 were synthesized to study the morphological and tribological behaviour. Three composites of HAp with three varying 2, 4, 6 wt% of SrCO3 and similarly other three with ZrO2 were prepared using solid-state route method. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analysis confirmed that the presence of SrCO3 and ZrO2 among HAp particles helps in grain growth during the sintering processes. The tribological study reveald that the inclusion of SrCO3 and ZrO2 in pure HAp enhanced the resistance to wear and specific wear rate. The average grain size of HAp-ZrO2 was observed more in comparision to the average grain size of the HAp-SrCO3. The values of the specific wear rate and wear of HAp-SrCO3 and HAp-ZrO2 composite ceramics lies in the range from 4.13,239 x 10(-5) to 5.44517 x 10(-5) mm(3)/Nm and 4.68693 x 10(-5) to 6.10099 x 10(-5) mm(3)/Nm, respectively.