An evaluation of methods to determine the porosity of calcium phosphate cements.

The porosity of a material can be determined using a diversity of methods; however, the results from these methods have so far not been compared and analyzed for calcium phosphate cements (CPCs). The aim of this study was to compare a fast and easy method for porosity measurements with some commonly used porosity methods for CPCs. The investigated method is based on the assumption that when a wet cement sample is dried, the volume of the evaporated water is equal to the volume of pores within the cement. Moreover, different methods of drying the cements were evaluated for acidic CPCs. The results showed that drying at room temperature (22 ± 1°C) is preferable, since a phase transformation was observed at higher temperatures. The results also showed that drying for 24 h in vacuum was sufficient to achieve water-free cements. The porosity measured was found to vary between the porosity methods evaluated herein, and to get a complete picture of a cement's porosity more than one method is recommended. Water evaporation, is, however, a fast and easy method to estimate the porosity of CPCs and could simplify porosity measurements in the future.