Investigation of the mechanical properties and degradability of a modified chitosan-based scaffold

The aim of this research is to evaluate the mechanical properties and degradation behavior of the chitosan/hydroxyapatite/ferrite nanocomposites in the ringer solution. The initial materials, including chitosan and hydroxyapatite, were developed from shrimp shells and bovine cortical bone, respectively. Ferrite was also synthesized through wet-chemical method using FeCl2.4H2O and FeCl3.6H2O as precursors. The obtained results showed that the samples containing chitosan with a lesser deacetylation degree (73.5%) possess higher bending strength when compared to the samples with a higher deacetylation degree (82.5%). The samples with higher amounts of chitosan remain healthier and have a lesser weight loss percentage than the samples with more hydroxyapatite. The samples with the ratio of chitosan:hydroxyapatite (6:4) have displayed the smallest amount of degradation. Additionally, the samples with lower ratio of chitosan:hydroxyapatite (4:6) (the sample labeled as B) have demonstrated significantly higher fracture toughness (regarding to compression stress-strain curves) than other samples. Finally, it is concluded that chitosan/hydroxyapatite/ferrite nanocomposite with 6 g chitosan, 4 g hydroxyapatite, 0.5 g FeCl2.4H2O, and 1 g FeCl3.6H2O (the sample labeled as F) is selected as the optimal sample of this research, with regards to both of the mechanical properties and degradation behavior results.