Effect of high energy radiation on electrical properties of synthetic bone materials

Abstract

Hydroxyapatites have been investigated since past six decades as laser host materials. Because of their important roles in bone and teeth, these have been subjects of recent investigations. Gallium and titanium have great potential for decreasing the depletion of calcium and reducing osteoporosis. The electrical properties and polarity play important roles in regeneration of the bones. We observed growth of grains in selenium-doped gallium and titanium containing silicate hydroxyapatites. Observed morphology showed non-facetted microstructures and it helped in achieving larger grains. For the material processed for the period of longer than 70 h, we did not observe any difference in the dielectric constant and resistivity of the selenium-doped materials. For irradiating the materials, a Cs-137 γ-radiation with 5 µm curie dose was used up to 100 h. We observed that the dielectric constant and resistivity at different frequencies ranging from 100 to 100 000 Hz were affected by the high energy radiation. However, bias voltage in the range of 50–1 000 mV did no alter the dielectric constant or resistivity. This indicated that the breakdown of the material did not occur for this bias range.