Microwave-assisted composite fabrication of nano-hydroxyapatite reinforced ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene composite

Fabrication of composite using microwave energy is a rapid and emerging manufacturing route. This paper deals to address fabrication challenges during fabrication of nano-hydroxyapatite (HA) reinforced ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE) composite by utilization of microwave energy. In the proposed fabrication technique, composite constituents were taken as UHMWPE and nano-HA powders with average particle size of 100 mu m and 100 nm, respectively. In this work, the weight fraction of nano-HA was 10%, 15% and 20%. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) was done to confirm the dispersion of nano-HA (reinforcement) in UHMWPE(matrix). Mechanical behaviour of the fabricated composite was studied in terms of uniaxial tensile loading, flexural loading and Shore D hardness test. The thermal degradation of UHMWPE/nano-HA composite was studied using differential scanning calorimeter (DSC) and thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA). With addition of 20% wt% of nano-HA fillers, the comparative percentage increase in Young's modulus, ultimate tensile strength, flexural strength and hardness of UHMWPE/nano-HA composite were 70.65%, 35.52%, 42.84% and 39.24%, respectively