Please login first
Wear Properties of Bioactive Copper Hydroxyapatite Polyoxymethylene Composite for Biomedical Applications
* 1 , 2
1  SRM Institute of Science and Technology
2  Technical University "Gh. Asachi" of Iasi Mechanical Engineering Faculty Machine Design & Mechatronics Dept. 63 D. Mangeron Blvd. Iasi 700050 ROMANIA

https://doi.org/10.3390/PCMS-08956 (registering DOI)
Abstract:

The present work investigated the tribological properties of polyoxyethylene (POM) polymer composites with copper-hydroxyapatite (Cu-HAp) as reinforcements. Hap was prepared from eggshells and was modified chemically to produce Cu-HAp. The particles were dried in a hot air oven and were ball milled to get nano Cu-HAp particles (67nm-145nm). Cu-HAp was added to the polymer matrix in various weight percentages (0 to 5 %) and the tribological properties of the composites were investigated using a pin on disc tribometer as per ASTM G99. The disc was 316L stainless steel. A normal load of 80N was applied and the disc was rotated with a slow low revolution of 156 rpm. From the tribo-tests it was seen that 1% for Cu-HAp exhibited the least coefficient of friction. The wear rate also decreased with the addition of Cu-HAp particles but at higher concentrations (5%) the wear rate increased. The increase in the wear rate is due to the increased porosity of the composite at higher concentrations of Cu-HAp. Furthermore, the addition of Cu-HAp in POM increased the hardness which prevented surface damages of the composites while a depression on the surface was observed in the case of POM without Cu-HAp. The biocompatibility of the composites was analyzed by examining the cell proliferations on the composites. It was observed that all Cu-HAp samples were capable of promoting cell growth which resulted in increased cell counts as compared to the POM sample without Cu-HAp. Additionally, the cell counts also increased with the increase in Cu-HAp reinforcement concentration. The present work will be helpful in the making of bio-compatible composites for various biomedical applications such as implants

Keywords: bioactive polymer composite; tribology; hydroxyapatite; biomedical applications
Top