Abstract:
Surface modifications of nano-hydroxyapatite (n-HA) were conducted in this study by using citric acid and stearic acid, respectively. The effects of different modifiers on the properties of n-HA were characterized by TGA, FTIR, XPS, and etc. The relevant results show that both citric acid and stearic acid could be successfully grafted onto the surface of hydroxyapatite, while the grafting ratio of stearic acidis relatively higher than that of citric acid. The composites were prepared by mixing PLA matrix with citric acid grafted n-HA.Through SEM, it is observed that the as-prepared composites containing n-HA powders less than 20wt% possess a uniform dispersibility and good inorganic/organic interfacial adhesion.The porous scaffold consisting of n-HA/PLA composites was prepared by 3D printing craft. The mechanical property evaluation results indicate that the as-prepared n-HA/PLA scaffold obtained from the fused deposition modeling 3D printing technique has a satisfactory compression modulus, although its compressive strength at 10% deformation is relatively lower than that of neat PLA scaffold.