HDPE-Al2O3-HAp Composites for Biomedical Applications: Processing and Characterizations

The objective of this work is to demonstrate how the stiffness, hardness, as well as the biocompatibility property, of bioinert high-density polyethylene (HDPE) can be significantly improved by the combined addition of both bioinert and bioactive ceramic fillers. For this purpose, different volume fractions of hydroxyapatite and alumina, limited to a total of 40 vol %, have been incorporated in HDPE matrix. All the hybrid composites and monolithic HDPE were developed under optimized hot pressing condition (130 degrees C, 0.5 h, 92 MPa pressure). The results of the mechanical property characterization reveal that higher elastic modulus (6.2 GPa) and improved hardness (226.5 MPa) could be obtained in the developed HDPE-20 vol %-HAp-20 vol % Al2O3 composite. Under the selected fretting conditions against various counterbody materials (steel, Al2O3, and ZrO2), an extremely low COF of (0.07-0.11) and higher wear resistance (order of 10(-6) mm(3)/Nm) are obtained with the HDPE/20 vol % HAp/20 vol % Al2O3 composite in both air and simulated body fluid environment. Importantly, in-vitro cell culture study using L929 fibroblast cells confirms favorable cell adhesion properties in the developed hybrid composite. (C) 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Biomed Mater Res Part B: Appl Biomater 8813: 1-11, 2009