Flash sintering of Mg-doped tricalcium phosphate (TCP) nanopowders

β-tricalcium phosphate is a bioceramic with unique osteoinductive and osteoconductive properties. Its processing is limited by the undesired β→α phase transition which occurs upon sintering at 1398 K. The reduction of sintering temperature or the stabilization of β phase (by doping) are therefore of particular interest. In this work, flash sintering was used to consolidate β-tricalcium phosphate nanopowders synthesized by wet chemical methods. Pure and Mg-doped powder was studied, pointing out a strong effect of the dopant on the flash behavior and on the phase transitions. The results point out that tricalcium phosphate can be consolidated in few seconds at relatively low furnace temperature. The sintered pellets contain only the desired β phase in the case of Mg-doped powder, whereas some retained α phase is present in the undoped ones. Starting from the electrical behavior of the material a first processing map to attain β-tricalcium phosphate by flash sintering is proposed.