Influence of Cow Bone Particle Size Distribution on the Mechanical Properties of Cow Bone-Reinforced Polyester Composites

This work was carried out to investigate the influence of cow bone particle size distribution on the mechanical properties of polyester matrix composites in order to consider the suitability of the materials as biomaterials. Cow bone was procured from an abattoir, washed with water, and sun-dried for 4 weeks after which it was crushed with a sledge hammer and was further pulverized with laboratory ball mill. Sieve size analysis was carried out on the pulverized bone where it was sieved into three different sizes of 75, 106, and 300 μm sieve sizes. Composite materials were developed by casting them into tensile and flexural tests moulds using predetermined proportions of 2, 4, 6, and 8%. The samples after curing were striped from the moulds and were allowed to be further cured at room temperature for 3 weeks before tensile and flexural tests were performed on them. Both tensile and flexural strength were highly enhanced by 8 wt% from 75 μm while toughness was highly enhanced by 6 and 8 wt% from 300 μm. This shows that fine particles lead to improved strength while coarse particles lead to improved toughness. The results show that these materials are structurally compatible and are being developed from animal fibre based particle; it is expected to also aid the compatibility with the surface conditions as biomaterials.