Preparation and mechanical properties of tricalcium phosphate/calcium alginate composite flat sheet membranes

This paper provides a method of preparing tricalcium phosphate/calcium alginate (TCP/CA) composite flat sheet membranes to improve the strength of CA hydrogels, and make it easy to test the mechanical properties. The TCP/CA composite flat sheet membranes were prepared by combining TCP with sodium alginate in aqueous solution. The TCP/CA membranes were characterized by FTIR and SEM. The swelling properties and mechanical properties in wet and dry forms of TCP/CA membranes with different contents of TCP were investigated. The results show that with the increase of TCP, the swelling rate of TCP/CA composite flat sheet membranes decreases in physiological saline and the nominal stress value increases first and then decreases both in dry and wet forms with the increase of TCP content. The nominal stress, modulus and fracture energy are significantly greater in the dry form than in the wet form. This method is easy to get TCP/CA composite flat sheet membranes with different thicknesses and get mass production, which could be used in controlled-release delivery and tissue engineering.