Macrochanneled tetragonal zirconia polycrystals coated by a calcium phosphate layer

A coextrusion process was used to fabricate three-directionally macrochanneled tetragonal zirconia polycrystals (TZP) with a calcium phosphate coating layer. The three-directionally connected structure was built by a unique alignment and a lamination of the TZP surrounded by calcium phosphate and carbon black filaments. After a thermal treatment (binder burnout and sintering), a 52 vol% array of 290 μm, three-directionally connected macrochannels, which were clad on the inside with bioactive calcium phosphate, had formed on the sintered TZP body. For a comparison, porous calcium phosphate with a similar structure was also fabricated. The compressive strength (96 MPa) of the three-directionally macrochanneled TZP with a bioactive calcium phosphate layer was much higher than that (24 MPa) of the three-directionally macrochanneled calcium phosphate.