fluorapatite
Sign in to saveAlso known as apatite-(CaF)
Fluorapatite, often with the alternate spelling of fluoroapatite, is a phosphate mineral with the formula Ca5(PO4)3F (calcium fluorophosphate). Fluorapatite is a hard crystalline solid. Although samples can have various colors (green, brown, blue, yellow, violet, or colorless), the pure mineral is colorless, as expected for a material lacking transition metals. Along with hydroxylapatite, it can be a component of tooth enamel, especially in individuals who use fluoridated toothpaste, but for industrial use both minerals are mined in the form of phosphate rock, whose usual mineral composition i
Key facts
- Mineral.name
- Fluorapatite
- Mineral.category
- Phosphate mineral Apatite group
- Mineral.image
- Fluorapatite-Muscovite-tuc8-098a.jpg
- Mineral.imagesize
- 260px
- Mineral.caption
- Fluorapatite (pink) on top of muscovite (green)
- Mineral.formula
- Ca5(PO4)3F
- Mineral.IMAsymbol
- Fap
- Mineral.strunz
- 8.BN.05
- Mineral.color
- Sea-green, violet, purple, blue, pink, yellow, brown, white, colorless, may be zoned
- Mineral.habit
- Massive to prismatic crystalline
- Mineral.system
- Hexagonal
- Mineral.class
- Dipyramidal (6/m) H-M symbol: (6/m)
- Mineral.symmetry
- P63/m
- Mineral.twinning
- Contact twins rare
- Mineral.cleavage
- Indistinct
- Mineral.fracture
- Brittle to conchoidal
- Mineral.mohs
- 5
- Mineral.luster
- Vitreous, resinous to dull
via Wikipedia infobox
Research
989 papers- A new classification system for all-ceramic and ceramic-like restorative materials.The International journal of prosthodontics · 2015
- Sintered fluorapatite scaffolds as an autograft-like engineered bone graft.Journal of biomedical materials research. Part B, Applied biomaterials · 2024
- Transition Metal Exchanged Hydroxyapatite/Fluorapatite Catalysts for C-C and C-N Bond Forming Reactions.Chemical record (New York, N.Y.) · 2021
- Fluorapatite nanorod arrays with enamel-like bundle structure regulated by iron ions.RSC advances · 2023
- Fluorapatite-Coated Percutaneous Devices Promote Wound Healing and Limit Epithelial Downgrowth at the Skin-Device Interface.Journal of tissue engineering and regenerative medicine · 2023
via PubMed
Wikidata facts
- Image
- Apatite Canada.jpg
Show 5 more facts
- Commons category
- Fluorapatite
- Nickel-Strunz '10th ed', review of (9th ed/ 2009 update)
- 8.BN.05
- Nickel-Strunz 9th edition (updated 2009)
- 8.BN.05
- IMA Mineral Symbol
- Fap
- chemical formula
- Ca₅(PO₄)₃F
Sources (2)
via Wikidata · CC0
~6 min read
Article
3 sectionsContents
- Synthesis
- Applications
- References
Fluorapatite, often with the alternate spelling of fluoroapatite, is a phosphate mineral with the formula Ca5(PO4)3F (calcium fluorophosphate). Fluorapatite is a hard crystalline solid. Although samples can have various colors (green, brown, blue, yellow, violet, or colorless), the pure mineral is colorless, as expected for a material lacking transition metals. Along with hydroxylapatite, it can be a component of tooth enamel, especially in individuals who use fluoridated toothpaste, but for industrial use both minerals are mined in the form of phosphate rock, whose usual mineral composition is primarily fluorapatite but often with significant amounts of the other.
Fluorapatite crystallizes in a hexagonal crystal system. It is often combined as a solid solution with hydroxylapatite (Ca5(PO4)3OH or Ca10(PO4)6(OH)2) in biological matrices. Chlorapatite (Ca5(PO4)3Cl) is another related structure. Industrially, the mineral is an important source of both phosphoric and hydrofluoric acids.