Investigations on the Mechanical Properties of Glass Fiber/Sisal Fiber/Chitosan Reinforced Hybrid Polymer Sandwich Composite Scaffolds for Bone Fracture Fixation Applications.

Soundhar Arumugam,Mohd Shukry Abdul Majid,Faizal Mustapha,Syafiqah Nur Azrie Safri,Ain Umaira Md Shah,Mohamed Thariq Hameed Sultan,Jayakrishna Kandasamy,Adi Azriff Basri

doi:10.3390/polym12071501

Soundhar Arumugam, Mohd Shukry Abdul Majid + Show 6 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/polym12071501

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Abstract

This study aims to explore the mechanical properties of hybrid glass fiber (GF)/sisal fiber (SF)/chitosan (CTS) composite material for orthopedic long bone plate applications. The GF/SF/CTS hybrid composite possesses a unique sandwich structure and comprises GF/CTS/epoxy as the external layers and SF/CTS/epoxy as the inner layers. The composite plate resembles the human bone structure (spongy internal cancellous matrix and rigid external cortical). The mechanical properties of the prepared hybrid sandwich composites samples were evaluated using tensile, flexural, micro hardness, and compression tests. The scanning electron microscopic (SEM) images were studied to analyze the failure mechanism of these composite samples. Besides, contact angle (CA) and water absorption tests were conducted using the sessile drop method to examine the wettability properties of the SF/CTS/epoxy and GF/SF/CTS/epoxy composites. Additionally, the porosity of the GF/SF/CTS composite scaffold samples were determined by using the ethanol infiltration method. The mechanical test results show that the GF/SF/CTS hybrid composites exhibit the bending strength of 343 MPa, ultimate tensile strength of 146 MPa, and compressive strength of 380 MPa with higher Young’s modulus in the bending tests (21.56 GPa) compared to the tensile (6646 MPa) and compressive modulus (2046 MPa). Wettability study results reveal that the GF/SF/CTS composite scaffolds were hydrophobic (CA = 92.41° ± 1.71°) with less water absorption of 3.436% compared to the SF/CTS composites (6.953%). The SF/CTS composites show a hydrophilic character (CA = 54.28° ± 3.06°). The experimental tests prove that the GF/SF/CTS hybrid composite can be used for orthopedic bone fracture plate applications in future.

Highlights

Bone plate is used to arrest the bone fracture and lessen the fracture gap, thereby enabling primary bone healing
This study suggested that HA/carboxyl methyl cellulose (CMC) composite scaffolds are suitable for the bone tissue engineering field due to their mechanical stability, biocompatibility, and biodegradable properties [36]
The tensile properties of composite scaffolds were analyzed to understand the influence of the number of sisal fiber (SF) core layer and inclusion of CTS particles of the hybrid glass fiber (GF)/SF/CTS sandwich composites

Summary

Introduction

Bone plate is used to arrest the bone fracture and lessen the fracture gap, thereby enabling primary bone healing. High stiffness titanium and stainless-steel alloys are often utilized for bone plate applications owing to their properties such as mechanical strength, corrosion resistance, bio-inertness, and cost effectiveness compared to other biomaterials [2]. This clinically available fixation of long bone fracture metal plate is less preferred because of its stiffness mismatch between the metal plate and human cortical bone, which is commonly referred as stress shielding effect [3]. It is essential to minimize the destructive effect of stress shielding by designing a matching fracture plate to the mechanical properties of the cortical bone. The stress shielding effect can be minimized by using composite materials as a replacement to titanium and stainless-steel alloy-based orthopedic implants [5]

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