This paper reports a preliminary study on the development and characterization of a
porous calcium phosphate glass-ceramic for tissue engineering application. To obtain porous glass
scaffolds, a mixture of 3CaO.P2O5-SiO2-MgO glass (grain size below 20 'm) and NaCl with 200-
300 'm of particle size was taken in the volume proportion 1:1. The mixture was shaped into
cylindrical samples (10 mm diameter x 10 mm thick) by using unidirectional pressing. The sintering
thermal cycle was selected by means of thermal analyses (DTA/TG and dilatometry) in order to
attain a high enough cohesion among the glass particles. After thermal consolidation, the salt was
dissolved in water, resulting in highly porous materials. The effect of the sintering thermal cycle on
the structure and microstructure characteristics of the scaffolds was investigated in this paper.