Compressive strength enhancement of artificial bone using hydroxyapatite/fish-collagen nanocomposite

Abstract

Marine collagen was used to prepare an artificial bone composite based on calcium phosphate nanocrystallites such as hydroxyapatite (HAp). The mechanical strength of calcium phosphate bone blocks is much lower than that of real bones. Hence, their strength needs to be enhanced for application of a human body. As-received freeze-dried fish collagen (fish COL) was dissolved in an acetic acid aqueous solution and then mixed with an aqueous H3PO4 solution. HAp crystallites were precipitated in the matrix of the fish-COL solution. The precipitated HAp/COL nanocomposite slurries were vacuum-filtered using a glass filter to prepare specimens for measuring compressive strength. Obtaining uniform density in the HAp/COL sample block was a challenge in this study. With a change in the COL content in the precipitated HAp/COL nanocomposite, the compressive strength was estimated using a universal testing machine.