Development of Polymer/Nanoceramic Composite Material with Potential Application in Biomedical Engineering

Abstract

The rise of human life expectancy results in the increasing of elderly population and consequently the diseases of old age, which are mostly related with bone degenerative diseases. These problems also affect young individuals, commonly due to accidents (automobile and work). This fact has stimulated the research and development of materials that can replace or regenerate the damaged bone. From the engineering view, bone is a composite material consisting of an organic matrix (collagen), reinforced by an inorganic component (hydroxyapatite). The search for a suitable material, with properties tailored to the needs of the bone metabolism, as well as the adequate way of material processing, which ensures the maintenance or improvement of their initial properties, motivated this research. In this work was developed composite materials, based on bioresorbable polymer (PLLA) and phosphocalcic nanoceramic (HA). The composites were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (microstructure) and dynamical mechanical analyses (mechanical behavior). The results indicated these materials as promising for applications in the medical and dental manufacturing devices (plates and screws) by injection molding, and also for scaffolds by rapid manufacturing, in the tissue engineering area.