Influence of gelatin on the properties of hydroxyapatite-polyacrylamide nanocomposite as a potential bone substitute

摘要

The controlled integration of organic and inorganic components confers superior mechanical properties onto natural bone. The present work adds to the continuing efforts of designing a natural bone-like structure. In this study, the hydroxyapatite (HAP) impregnated polymeric composites of polyacrylamide (PAM) and the same with gelatin have been synthesized by a suspension polymerization method in order to study their blood compatibility, water sorption behavior, and mechanical properties; and network parameters, such as average molecular weight between crosslinks (M-c), crosslink density (q) have been calculated. Both, HAP-PAM and PAM-gelatin-HAP composites were characterized using techniques like Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), X-ray diffraction (XRD) studies, thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The composites were also evaluated for their mechanical properties like compressive strength and modulus (E).