SODA LIME SILICATE GLASSES CONTAINING IRON OXIDE - IN VITRO EVALUATION

Three glasses with different iron oxide concentrations (between 5 and 8.1 mol %) were obtained in the CaO - Na2O - SiO2 - Fe2O3 system by using conventional melting-quenching technique. The amorphous nature of the synthesized materials is confirmed by X-ray diffraction analysis, XRD. The physico-chemical and structural characterization of the glasses was performed by measuring their density, refractive indices, as well as by calculating the molar volume, oxygen packing density and recording the infrared spectra by Fourier Transformed Infrared Spectroscopy, FT-IR, respectively. The glasses were evaluated in vitro by examining bone-like apatite formation on their surfaces in a simulated body fluid, SBF. The structural changes in the glasses during the in-vitro test were traced by means of FT-IR and Scanning Electron Microscopy, SEM. The solutions were examined by Inductively Coupled Plasma Optical Emission Spectroscopy, ICP-OES to determine the ion exchange between the glasses and the starting SBF and the corresponding effect on the pH was also recorded.