Calcium phosphate cements: action of setting regulators on the properties of the beta-tricalcium phosphate-monocalcium phosphate cements.

Various additives were tested as setting retarders of the beta-tricalcium phosphate-monocalcium phosphate monohydrate (beta-TCP-MCPM) cements. Calcium pyrophosphate (CPP), calcium sulphate dihydrate (CSD) and calcium sulphate hemihydrate (CSH) were found to increase the setting time from 30 s to about 10 min. Moreover, the use of CSH resulted in a marked increase of the final diametral strength of the cement, which could be raised from 1 MPa to about 3 MPa. The best results were obtained when CSH and CPP were added together to the cement, while the addition of CSD and CPP alone only retarded the setting, without improving the final strength. A particular cement composition (64 wt% beta-TCP, 16 wt% MCPM, 15 wt% CSH and 5 wt% CPP), selected for its optimum final strength, was aged in vitro for 8 d at 37 degrees C in saline solution (0.9 wt% NaCl in water). After a moderate decrease, the diametral strength of the specimen was found to level off at about 60% of its initial value (3.2 MPa), for ageing times beyond 1 d. This behaviour has been ascribed to the progressive dissolution of the CSD fraction of the hardened cement, compensated by the crystallization of further amounts of DCPD.