A novel bioactive and magnetic biphasic material.

A novel biphasic material has been synthetised from a sol-gel-derived glass (Si-Ca-P) and a glass-ceramic obtained from a melt-derived glass (Si-Ca-Fe). Both components of such a biphasic mixture are bioactive, but with different kinetics for the growth of an apatite-like layer on the surface of these materials, needing only one day for the sol-gel-derived glass and one month for the glass-ceramic. The glass-ceramic shows magnetic properties. The biphasic material, obtained from a mixture 1:1 of these components, is bioactive, and its surface is coated after 15 days of soaking in SBF. The biphasic material also exhibited magnetic behaviour, useful for hyperthermia.