X-ray diffraction investigation of amorphous calcium phosphate and hydroxyapatite under ultra-high hydrostatic pressure

The changes in the crystal structures of synthetically prepared amorphous calcium phosphate (ACP) and hydroxyapatite (HAP) in water (1:1 mass ratio) were studied by synchrotron X-ray diffraction (XRD) under ultra-high hydrostatic pressures as high as 2.34 GPa for ACP and 4 GPa for HAP. At ambient pressure, the XRD patterns of the ACP and HAP samples in capillary tubes and their environmental scanning electron micrographs indicated amorphous and crystalline characteristics for ACP and HAP, respectively. At pressures greater than 0.25 GPa, an additional broad peak was observed in the XRD pattern of the ACP phase, indicating a partial phase transition from an amorphous phase to a new high-pressure amorphous phase. The peak areas and positions of the ACP phase, as obtained through fitting of the experimental data, indicated that the ACP exhibited increased pseudo-crystalline behavior at pressures greater than 0.96 GPa. Conversely, no structural changes were observed for the HAP phase up to the highest applied pressure of 4 GPa. For HAP, a unit-cell reduction during compression was evidenced by a reduction in both refined lattice parameters a and c. Both ACP and HAP reverted to their original structures when the pressure was fully released to ambient pressure.