Reinforcing of Porous Hydroxyapatite Ceramics with Hydroxyapatite Fibres for Enhanced Bone Tissue Engineering

摘要

Porous hydroxyapatite (HA) ceramic implants have attracted attention in bone tissue engineering due to their excellent bioactivity and biocompatibility due to their chemical similarity with the mineral component of natural bone. Unfortunately, HA whenis formed into porous structures exhibits very low compression strength. In this study, fabrication of porous HA ceramic scaffolds containing HA fibers is presented. The primary aim of the study is to improve mechanical properties of the scaffold by introducing the fiber with uniform component relative to the scaffold. Scanning electron microscopy was used to observe the surface morphology and pore size of the scaffold. X-ray diffraction (XRD) was used to detect the phase composition and crystallinityof the scaffold. The compressive strength was determined using a universal material test machine. The results and the characterizations demonstrate the addition of HA fiber could enhance the uniformity of mechanical properties among samples and also thestrength for a given open porosity.