Recently, researchers have focused on the biocompatibility and mechanical properties of highly porous structures of biomaterials products. Porous composites are a new category of bioengineering that possess excellent functional and structural properties. In this study, the physical and mechanical properties of prepared doped silver (Ag)-hydroxyapatite (HA) by the mechanochemical and spark plasma sintering (SPS) methods were investigated. The influence of dopant on phase formation, structural properties, mechanical properties and morphological characteristics was investigated. Furthermore, in this case, as a new approach to produce a porous scaffold with an average size of >100 µm, the hair band was used as a mold. According to the Monshi-Scherrer method, the crystal size of scaffold was calculated 38 ± 2 nm and this value was in the good agreement with average value from transmission electron microscopy (TEM) analysis. In addition, the stress-strain compression test of scaffold was considered, and the maximum value of compressive strength was recorded ~15.71 MPa. Taking into account the XRD, TEM, Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR), scanning electron microscope (SEM) and energy dispersive X-Ray analysis (EDAX) analysis, the prepared scaffold was bioactive and the effects of doped Ag-HA and the use of polyvinyltrimethoxysilane (PVTMS) as an additive were desirable. The results showed that the effect of thermal treatment on composed of Ag and HA were impressive while no change in transformation was observed at 850 °C. In addition, PVTMS plays an important role as an additive for preventing the decomposition and creating open-microporous in the scaffold that these porosities can be helpful for increasing bioactivity.
Keywords: Ag-doped HA; bioactivity; mechanochemical process; open porosities; simulated body fluid; spark plasma sintering.