Preparation and mechanical properties of photo-crosslinked poly(trimethylene carbonate) and nano-hydroxyapatite composites

Issue title: Special issue: Advanced Functional Polymers in Medicine (AFPM): Liège, Belgium, May 2014; Guest-Editors: Christine Jérôme and Andreas Lendlein

Article type: Research Article

Authors: Geven, Mike A.^a | Barbieri, Davide^b | Yuan, Huipin^{b; c} | de Bruijn, Joost D.^{a; b} | Grijpma, Dirk W.^{a; d; *}

Affiliations: [a] MIRA Institute for Biomedical Technology and Technical Medicine, and Department of Biomaterials Science and Technology, University of Twente, Enschede, The Netherlands | [b] XPand Biotechnology BV, Bilthoven, The Netherlands | [c] MIRA Institute for Biomedical Technology and Technical Medicine, and Department of Tissue Regeneration, University of Twente, Enschede, The Netherlands | [d] University of Groningen, University Medical Center Groningen, W.J. Kolff Institute, Department of Biomedical Engineering, Groningen, The Netherlands

Correspondence: [*] Corresponding author: Prof. Dirk W. Grijpma, MIRA Institute for Biomedical Technology and Technical Medicine, and Department of Biomaterials Science and Technology, University of Twente, P.O. Box 217, 7500 AE Enschede, The Netherlands, Tel.: +31 53 4892966; Fax: +31 53 4892155; d.w.grijpma@utwente.nl

Abstract: Composite materials of photo-crosslinked poly(trimethylene carbonate) and nanoscale hydroxyapatite were prepared and their mechanical characteristics for application as orbital floor implants were assessed. The composites were prepared by solvent casting poly(trimethylene carbonate) macromers with varying amounts of nano-hydroxyapatite and subsequent photo-crosslinking. The incorporation of the nano-hydroxyapatite into the composites was examined by thermogravimetric analysis, scanning electron microscopy and gel content measurements. The mechanical properties were investigated by tensile testing and trouser tearing experiments. Our results show that nano-hydroxyapatite particles can readily be incorporated into photo-crosslinked poly(trimethylene carbonate) networks. Compared to the networks without nano-hydroxyapatite, incorporation of 36.3 wt.% of the apatite resulted in an increase of the E modulus, yield strength and tensile strength from 2.2 MPa to 51 MPa, 0.5 to 1.4 N/mm2 and from 1.3 to 3.9 N/mm2, respectively. We found that composites containing 12.4 wt.% nano-hydroxyapatite had the highest values of strain at break, toughness and average tear propagation strength (376% , 777 N/mm2 and 3.1 N/mm2, respectively).

Keywords: Composites, photo-crosslinked poly(trimethylene carbonate), nano-hydroxyapatite, orbital floor repair

DOI: 10.3233/CH-151936

Journal: Clinical Hemorheology and Microcirculation, vol. 60, no. 1, pp. 3-11, 2015