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. 2014 Aug 28;13:125.
doi: 10.1186/1475-925X-13-125.

Thermal, creep-recovery and viscoelastic behavior of high density polyethylene/hydroxyapatite nano particles for bone substitutes: effects of gamma radiation

Othman Y Alothman, H Fouad  1 , S M Al-Zahrani, Ayman Eshra, Mohammed Fayez Al Rez, S G Ansari
Affiliations
Free PMC article

Thermal, creep-recovery and viscoelastic behavior of high density polyethylene/hydroxyapatite nano particles for bone substitutes: effects of gamma radiation

Othman Y Alothman et al. Biomed Eng Online. .
Free PMC article

Abstract

Background: High Density Polyethylene (HDPE) is one of the most often used polymers in biomedical applications. The limitations of HDPE are its visco-elastic behavior, low modulus and poor bioactivity. To improve HDPE properties, HA nanoparticles can be added to form polymer composite that can be used as alternatives to metals for bone substitutes and orthopaedic implant applications.

Method: In our previous work (BioMedical Engineering OnLine 2013), different ratios of HDPE/HA nanocomposites were prepared using melt blending in a co-rotating intermeshing twin screw extruder. The accelerated aging effects on the tensile properties and torsional viscoelastic behavior (storage modulus (G') and Loss modulus (G")) at 80°C of irradiated and non-irradiated HDPE/HA was investigated. Also the thermal behavior of HDPE/HA were studied. In this study, the effects of gamma irradiation on the tensile viscoelastic behavior (storage modulus (E') and Loss modulus (E")) at 25°C examined for HDPE/HA nanocomposites at different frequencies using Dynamic Mechanical Analysis (DMA). The DMA was also used to analyze creep-recovery and relaxation properties of the nanocomposites. To analyze the thermal behavior of the HDPE/HA nanocomposite, Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) was used.

Results: The microscopic examination of the cryogenically fractured surface revealed a reasonable distribution of HA nanoparticles in the HDPE matrix. The DMA showed that the tensile storage and loss modulus increases with increasing the HA nanoparticles ratio and the test frequency. The creep-recovery behavior improves with increasing the HA nanoparticle content. Finally, the results indicated that the crystallinity, viscoelastic, creep recovery and relaxation behavior of HDPE nanocomposite improved due to gamma irradiation.

Conclusion: Based on the experimental results, it is found that prepared HDPE nanocomposite properties improved due to the addition of HA nanoparticles and irradiation. So, the prepared HDPE/HA nanocomposite appears to have fairly good comprehensive properties that make it a good candidate as bone substitute.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
SEM micrograph of (a) HA nanoparticles (b) HDPE/HA nano composite 10% and (c) 30%.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Effects of HA and Gamma radiation on the HDPE melt flow index (MFI).
Figure 3
Figure 3
Heat–cooling processes for irradiated (70 kGy) HDPE/HA (30%) nanocomposite (a) heat flow against temp (b) heat flow against time.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Effects of HA and Gamma radiation on the HDPE crystallinity.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Effects of HA and Gamma radiation on the HDPE melting temperature.
Figure 6
Figure 6
Thermogravimetric analyses of HDPE and its nanocomposite (a) Effect of HA ratio (b) Effect of Irradiation Dose.
Figure 7
Figure 7
Effect of HA contents on the (a) storage and (b) loss modulus of HDPE nanocomposite.
Figure 8
Figure 8
Effect of Gamma radiation on the storage and loss modulus for (a) HDPE and (b) HDPE/HA.
Figure 9
Figure 9
Creep-recovery response of (a) HDPE at different loads and (b) HDPE/HA.
Figure 10
Figure 10
Effects of Gamma irradiation dose on the creep-recovery resistance of HDPE/HA (30%).
Figure 11
Figure 11
Stress relaxation behavior of irradiated and non-irradiated HDPE and its nanocomposite.
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