The Development of Temporary Bone Scaffolds from High Density Polyethylene (HDPE) and Calcium Carbonate (CaCO3) for Biomedical Application

Abstract

AbstractCalcium Carbonate (CaCO3) is widely used as one of main materials in bone tissue engineering. The use of porous material scaffolds made from bioceramic and polymer components to support bone cell and tissue growth is a longstanding area of interest in biomedical field. The aim of this research is to extract CaCO3 from cockle shells and analyze the mechanical and physical properties of powder and samples built by mixing CaCO3 with synthetic polymer High Density Polyethylene (HDPE) to produce stronger and more flexible composite for bone replacement application. Unused cockle shells were collected and cleansed before crushed to make 100 µm-sized CaCO3 powder. The process of mixing HDPE and CaCO3 is by using brabender mixing machine in temperature of 170 °C based on differences in their weight percentages. Samples were produced using injection molding method and tested for mechanical testing. The powder and samples were analyzed using SEM, EDX and FTiR analysis to observe the microstructure and content of CaCO3 as well as the sample structure to determine which ratio sample is the most suitable to be used in the mentioned field. The flexural modulus of the composite from flexural test for sample 1 to sample 3 was between 2.4 and 2.77 GPa while Young’s modulus achieved from tensile test samples was between 0.43 and 0.59 GPa. The impact strength achieved for samples 1–3 was between 0.69 and 0.74 J/mm2. Results show the weight percentage of CaCO3 affected the mechanical and physical strength of samples greatly.KeywordsCockle shellCaCO3HDPEMechanical testBone implantBiomaterialBio-polymer