Abstract
Iron and its alloy have been proposed as biodegradable metals for temporary medical implants. However, the formation of iron oxide and iron phosphate on their surface slows down their degradation kinetics in both in vitro and in vivo scenarios. This work presents new approach to tailor degradation behavior of iron by incorporating biodegradable polymers into the metal. Porous pure iron (PPI) was vacuum infiltrated by poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA) to form fully dense PLGA-infiltrated porous iron (PIPI) and dip coated into the PLGA to form partially dense PLGA-coated porous iron (PCPI). Results showed that compressive strength and toughness of the PIPI and PCPI were higher compared to PPI. A strong interfacial interaction was developed between the PLGA layer and the iron surface. Degradation rate of PIPI and PCPI was higher than that of PPI due to the effect of PLGA hydrolysis. The fast degradation of PIPI did not affect the viability of human fibroblast cells. Finally, this work discusses a degradation mechanism for PIPI and the effect of PLGA incorporation in accelerating the degradation of iron.
Highlights
Area and interconnectivity within the pores which lead to the greater cell spreading[16,17]
Further supports from TGA-DTA results shows a trend of gradual mass loss of poly(DL-lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA) the PLGA-infiltrated porous iron (PIPI) associated with an endothermic process compared to that in PLGA-coated porous iron (PCPI), which has a steeper slope of mass loss (Fig. 2c,d)
A new approach to accelerate the slow degradation of iron is successfully demonstrated by incorporating PLGA into porous pure iron (PPI) structure in the forms of PLGA-infiltrated porous iron (PIPI) and PLGA-coated porous iron (PCPI)
Summary
Further supports from TGA-DTA results shows a trend of gradual mass loss of PLGA the PIPI associated with an endothermic process compared to that in PCPI, which has a steeper slope of mass loss (Fig. 2c,d). This indicates a stronger interfacial interaction between PLGA and iron in PIPI than in PCPI and this affects different degradation profile of PCPI and PIPI as will be discussed later. In the PCPI and PIPI samples with smaller pore size (450 μ m), it is obvious that after a short range of plateau region, the samples tended to be densified as depicted by steeper slopes of the curves within 0.38–0.6 strain.
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
