Glasses And Glass Ceramics As Biomaterials

Abstract

Glasses are playing a very vital role in the progress of society. It finds application not only in the domestic front as well as in the field such as telecommunication, architecture, automation etc. Recently a new class of glasses is being developed i.e. bioactive glasses and glass ceramics. Glass ceramics can have superior properties such as high mechanical strength and impact resistance as compared to their counterpart. Now-a-days glasses are being used as a bone substitute as they have tendency to form the direct bond with the living tissue after implanting in the human body. In the near future these glasses will be widely used in dental prosthetic, orthopedics and also as a filler material in bone defects In the present study silica based glasses of different composition have been synthesized by taking appropriate proportion (mol%) of each oxide constituents. The quenched samples were characterized by using the various techniques viz X-Ray diffraction, UV – Visible spectroscopy, weight measurement in SBF solution, density measurement. Amorphous nature of all the as cast samples is confirmed by X-Ray diffraction and band gap is calculated by UV-visible spectroscopy. All the samples were dipped in simulated body fluid (SBF) solution and their change in density, weight, pH of solution and band gap are also examined. The formation of hydroxyapatite layer on the glass sample surface is also analyzed by X-ray diffraction, weight (loss/ gaining) of glass samples, change in pH of solution, change in band gap of sample before and after dipping.