Mechanical evaluation of polylactic acid (PLA) based composites reinforced with hydroxyapatite

E. PEREZ; L. PAZOS; C. BERNAL; P. EISENBERG

Buenos Aires

Congreso; COMAT 2015, 6th International Conference on Science and Technology of Composite Materials; 2015

Instituto de Tecnología en Polímeros y Nanotecnología (ITPN, UBA-CONICET)

Implantable metallic biomedical devices are currently used to promote the bone healing process. However, adverse responses have been reported for metallic implants. Biopolymers represent a viable alternative to metals. The biodegradation process is close related to material properties, implant geometry, etc. Polylactic acid (PLA), polyglycolic acid (PGA), their blends and composites have been successfully applied for medical devices. In the present work, PLA based composites reinforced with 1 and 2.5 %wt of hydroxyapatite were prepared. Uniaxial tensile tests and quasi-static fracture tests were performed on these composites. The composite with larger filler content, exhibited reduced tensile and fracture toughness in comparison to neat PLA whereas the composite with 1 %wt. of filler displayed the highest fracture toughness and similar ductility than the matrix.