Composite material and method of manufacturing composite material

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10208302-B2
Application number	US-201514977324-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 21, 2015
Priority date	Jul 3, 2013
Publication date	Feb 19, 2019
Grant date	Feb 19, 2019

Abstract

A composite material includes: an apatite crystal in the form of a tube; and a functional component accommodated in the apatite crystal tube and constituted by a material having physical properties different from those of the apatite crystal. The apatite crystal may be a monocrystal given by the general formula M 2 5 (PO 4 ) 3 X, where M 2 denotes at least one element selected from the group consisting of divalent alkali earth metals and Eu, and X denotes at least one element or molecule selected from the group consisting of halogens and OH.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A composite material comprising:
a tubular apatite monocrystal given by the general formula M 2 5 (PO 4 ) 3 X,
where M 2 denotes at least one element selected from the group consisting of divalent alkali earth metals and Eu, and X denotes Cl; and
a functional component accommodated in the tubular apatite monocrystal and constituted by a material of physical properties different from those of the tubular apatite monocrystal.

2. The composite material according to claim 1 , wherein the tubular apatite monocrystal has a transmittance of at least 65% with respect to visible light.

3. The composite material according to claim 1 , wherein the functional component is constituted by a material of higher rigidity than that of the tubular apatite monocrystal.

4. The composite material according to claim 1 , wherein the functional component is constituted by a photocatalytic substance.

5. The composite material according to claim 1 , wherein the functional component is constituted by an enzyme.

6. The composite material according to claim 1 , wherein an outer form of the tubular apatite monocrystal is a hexagonal prism, and an aperture of a hole formed on a top surface or bottom surface of the hexagonal prism is hexagonal in shape.

7. The composite material accordingly to claim 1 , wherein the tubular apatite monocrystal has an inner diameter of 3 nm to 800 μm.

8. The composite material according to claim 1 , wherein the tubular apatite monocrystal has an outer diameter of 1 μm to 1 mm.

9. The composite material according to claim 1 , wherein the tubular apatite monocrystal measures 2 μm to 4 mm lengthwise.

Assignees

• Koito Mfg Co Ltd

Inventors

• Enomoto Kiminori
• Daicho Hisayoshi
• Shinomiya Yu

Classifications

• A61L27/46

  with phosphorus-containing inorganic fillers · CPC title

• C01P2004/13

  Nanotubes · CPC title

• C30B29/14

  Phosphates · CPC title

• A61L2430/02

  for reconstruction of bones; weight-bearing implants · CPC title

• C30B29/66

  Crystals of complex geometrical shape, e.g. tubes, cylinders · CPC title