GROWTH OF A BONELIKE APATITE LAYER ON A SUBSTRATE BY A BIOMIMETIC PROCESS

A dense and uniform bonelike apatite layer was formed on a substrate by the following biomimetic method. The substrate was first placed on granular particles of CaO,SiO2-based glass soaked in a simulated body fluid (SBF) with ion concentrations nearly equal to those of human blood plasma and then soaked in another fluid highly supersaturated with respect to the apatite, The thickness of the apatite layer increased in proportion to the soaking time in the second solution. The rate of increase in the thickness of the apatite layer increased from 0.5 to 7.0 mu m/day with increasing temperature of the second solution from 10 degrees to 60 degrees C, increased from 0.15 to 1.7 mu m/day with increasing ion concentrations of the second solution from 0.2 to 1.5 times those of the SBF, and doubled by shaking the second solution, These results indicate that the growth of the apatite layer is controlled by mass transport across the interface between the crystal and the fluid.