Comparative study of hydroxyapatite/gelatin composites reinforced with bio-inert ceramic particles

Recently, nano bio-composites have emerged as an efficient strategy to upgrade the structural and functional properties of synthetic bone grafts. Bioinert ceramics have attracted wide attention because of their biocompatibility. Novel composites of nano-hydroxyapatite/GEL with incorporation of bioinert ceramics like Al2O3, TiO2 and ZrO2 for different composites as a reinforcing phase to increase its mechanical properties was prepared. The nHAp with the size of 10–50 nm in diameter and 50–100 nm in length was uniformly distributed into GEL matrix to form the composite. It was found that the composite with a high ceramic content has good homogeneity and mechanical strength, which are close to the cancellous bone. An interconnected porous material with porosity of at least 74% was achieved by phase inversion method. The formation reaction of the nHAp/GEL/bioinert ceramic nanocomposite was then investigated via FT-IR, XRD, TG/DTA and SEM. The organic–inorganic interaction between HAp nano crystallites and GEL molecules were confirmed from FT-IR and TG/DTA. The compressive strength of bioinert ceramic reinforced nanocomposites scaffolds could high up to 13.15 MPa while those of nHAp/GEL were 4.87 MPa. The nano indentation technique was used to find nano hardness and fracture toughness was evaluated by Vickers indentation.