Biomedical Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Fig. 19. Elemental distribution mapping of the material IC1 treated at 110
o
C.
For the material IC2, the MEV/EDS analysis (Figure 20) revealed that the silicon atoms are
located in the same regions as the aluminum and oxygen atoms, pointing to the possible
formation of aluminosilicate. The smaller amount of chlorine in relation to IC1 indicates that
this material has fewer residues, probably originated from the catalyst (HCl). Also, it is
important to bear in mind that in this case the precursor AlCl
3
was replaced with aluminum
isopropoxide, which may be contributing to the lower amount of residual Cl groups. The
phosphorus and calcium atoms are distributed over the matrix. This material contained no
calcium and fluoride clusters, corroborating the XRD findings, which had not indicated the
presence of CaF
2
.
Fig. 20. Elemental distribution mapping of the material IC2 treated at 110
o
C.
In the case of the material IC3, the MEV/EDS (Figure 21) demonstrated that the silicon
atoms are present in the same regions as the aluminum and oxygen atoms. The smaller
amount of chlorine in relation to IC2 indicates that this material has few residual Cl. The
calcium atoms are distributed in the matrix and appear as clusters in the same regions as the
fluoride atoms, indicating the presence of CaF
2
, as previously detected by XRD.
