Collagen/hydroxyapatite composite obtained by electric field orientation

The purpose of this study was to obtain and characterize the oriented collagen/hydroxyapatite (COLL/HA) composite materials, using different kind of electric field. The orientation process takes place due to the dipolar collagen structure. The collagen molecules are electrically charged and can become oriented if an electric field is applied. The composites were obtained by the co-precipitation method starting from collagen gel and hydroxyapatite precursor. The mineralized collagen gel was introduced in an electric field for 1 h, frozen and lyophilized. In order to study the orientation process parameters, two types of electric fields were tested: pulsatory and superposed (both direct and pulsatory). The obtained materials were characterized by XRD, FTIR and SEM. Best results in what it concerns the oriented character of the microstructures, as resulted from SEM images, were obtained for a pulsatory field of 0.93 V/cm, the presence of the direct electric field component decreasing the orientation degree. The average orientation degree, calculated at the magnification of 1000× was about 95%.