| Article ID | Journal | Published Year | Pages | File Type |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1428772 | Materials Science and Engineering: C | 2014 | 6 Pages |
•Fabrication of PLLA/HA/cellulose composites that mimic the spongeous bone•Homogenous dispersion of the reinforcing agents in the PLLA matrix was attained.•More efficient interface between the PLLA and the reinforcing agents was achieved.•Preliminary in vitro biocompatibility test showed the nontoxicity of the composite.•The crystallinity, the compressive strength and modulus were investigated.
The purpose of this research is to develop and characterize a novel biomimetic nanocomposite that closely mimics the properties of real bone such as morphology, composition and mechanical characteristics. This novel porous nanocomposite is composed of cotton-sourced cellulose microcrystals, hydroxyapatite nanoparticles and poly l-lactide acid. A unique combination of commonly used fabrication procedures has been developed including pre-treatment of particles using a coupling agent. The effect of various weight ratios of the reinforcing agents was evaluated to assess their influence on the chemical, thermal, and mechanical properties of the nanocomposites. The prepared nanocomposites were characterized using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy, differential scanning calorimetry and compression testing. Our results indicated the presence of molecular interactions between all components leading to an increase of the crystallinity of the polymer from 50% to 80%. Compression test results revealed that increasing the weight ratio of microcrystalline cellulose/poly l-lactide acid and hydroxyapatite/poly l-lactide acid from 0.1 to 0.5 enhanced the compressive yield stress from 0.127 to 2.2 MPa and The Young's modulus from 6.6 to 38 MPa, respectively. It was found that the fabricated nanocomposites are comparable with the trabecular bone from compositional, structural, and mechanical point of view.
