Composite fiber of poly D,L-lactic acid/hydroxyapatite produced by melt spinning technology

Article type: Research Article

Authors: Wan, Tao | Li, Shipu | Zhou, Wenjuan | Yan, Yuhua | Li, Jianhua | He, Jianhua

Affiliations: Biomedical Materials and Engineering Research Center, Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan 430070, PR China

Note: [] Corresponding author. Fax: +86 27 87880734; E-mail: wantao@mail.whut.edu.cn.

Abstract: In this paper, preparation technologies for the compound fibers of poly D,L-lactic acid (PDLLA)/hydroxyapatite (HA) were investigated. Starting with PDLLA of weight average molecular mass 94,200–1,130,000 and HA powders of diameter 4–10 μm, the compound fibers of PDLLA/HA were obtained through a two stage process: first the adsorption of HA particles on the surface of PDLLA flakes using the liquid-phase adsorption method then melt-extrusion, and second the spinning collection. Experimental result was showed that the high performance composite fibers of PDLLA/HA with diameter of 15–30 micrometer could be produced by the PDLLA of weight average molecular mass 150,000–300,000, the HA powders content 5 wt%, the melt extrusion temperature below 160°C and the screw rotating speed of 10–15 r/min, the spinning collection speed of 2–5 m/min.

Keywords: PDLLA/HA, composite fiber, melt-extrusion, spinning collection, SEM

Journal: Bio-Medical Materials and Engineering, vol. 15, no. 5, pp. 333-339, 2005