Mechanical and tribological properties of hydroxyapatite nanoparticles extracted from natural bovine bone and the bone cement developed by nano-sized bovine hydroxyapatite filler

The aim of this study is twofold. Firstly, it provides a nano-sized hydroxyapatite derived from bovine bone (BHA), as a raw material and natural source of HA, and to obtain the mechanical and tribological properties of sintered BHA ceramic. Secondly, it evaluates the mechanical and tribological properties of a commercially available bone cement by incorporating nano-sized BHA as a bone compatible nano-filler. In order to achieve these two goals, the mechanical and tribological properties of sintered BHA ceramic and nano-composite cements were measured using nano-indentation and nano-scratch experiments. The results indicated that the nano- hydroxyapatite of single phase with high crystallinity and appropriate mechanical and tribological properties could be produced from the natural bovine bone. Moreover, it was found that the nano-composite with 10 wt% BHA exhibited a good improvement in mechanical and tribological properties in comparison with other examined PMMA/BHA nano-composites.