Fabrication and characterization of composite PMMA/HA scaffold using freeze casting method

ABSTRACT

A bone implant is one of the important areas in biomedical applications where biomaterial like polymers, ceramics and metals plays a deciding role. Polymethyl(methacrylate) (PMMA) is one of the biocompatible materials that can be used for fabricating bone implants. In this work, the combinations of PMMA, PMMA/HA, PMMA/Mg and PMMA/HA/Mg scaffolds were fabricated by the freeze casting process. The variation of pore size, porosity and compressive strength was studied for PMMA and its combinations with HA and Mg. The pore size in all four combinations was greater than 200 µm. This indicates that all four types of scaffolds are suitable for bone implants in their biological functions. The compressive strength of the PMMA/HA (26.08 MPa) scaffold was higher than the cancellous bone. In this work, PMMA/HA scaffold with better pore size and compressive strength was fabricated which has given way to fabricate bone implants in the near future.

KEYWORDS:

• Freeze casting
• PMMA
• porous scaffold
• hydroxyapatite
• camphene

Acknowledgments

This paper is dedicated in the honor of Dr. Santhanakrishnan Soundarapandian who was a pioneering researcher, educator and mentor at the Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Chennai until his passing in 2021.

Correction Statement

This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.