Fracture Behavior as Selection Criterion for Alloplastic Bone Graft Applications

Abstract

Designing and processing of the alloplastic bone grafts represent one of the newest trends in bone tissue engineering, solving a lot of trauma problems of the patients simultaneously with technological and economical achievements. Recent developments in the field provide advantageous aspects concerning the internal architecture, mechanical properties and biocompatibility of the alloplastic bone grafts processed by the powder metallurgy (PM) technology. In this respect, the PM biocomposite materials based on hydroxyapatite powder particles reinforced by metallic or ceramic powders afford great benefits combining classic PM processes with different foaming techniques. The obtained biocomposites present special morphological and structural features matching the genuine bone tissue to be grafted, cortical respectively trabecular. This study focuses on the mechanical testing of the hydroxyapatite-based biocomposites reinforced by different foaming agents, specifically TiH2, CaCO3 and NH4HCO3 up to 25% mass. The overlapping of the obtained experimental results with those reported by the literature leads to the conclusion that the mechanical response of the PM biocomposites studied in this paper may play as a selection criteria to depict their application in hard tissue engineering.