REVIEW ON HYDROXYAPATITE-CARBON NANOTUBE COMPOSITES AND SOME OF THEIR APPLICATIONS

摘要

Hydroxyapatite (HAP) has been one of the cheapest and well known ceramics for diversified applications including clinical bone graft procedures for more than 25 years. Even though it has many applications, its poor tensile strength, fracture toughness and mechanical properties make it unsuitable for major load-bearing applications. Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) have excellent mechanical properties to strengthen and toughen HAP. Further when incorporated with HAP the range of applications for this material is broadened. Hence, in this review we discuss techniques to synthesize and process HAP–CNT composites. Moreover, the methods to improve the properties along with the applications of the composites are