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Investigation of Calcium Carbonates Enhanced Poly(ε‐caprolactone) Materials for Biomedical Applications
Author(s) -
Oláh László,
Tuba Ferenc
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
macromolecular symposia
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.257
H-Index - 76
eISSN - 1521-3900
pISSN - 1022-1360
DOI - 10.1002/masy.201051051
Subject(s) - calcite , aragonite , calcium carbonate , materials science , ultimate tensile strength , biocompatibility , composite material , compressive strength , mineralogy , metallurgy , chemistry
In this study poly(ε‐caprolactone) – calcium‐carbonate composites were obtained by melt‐mixing. Two crystal‐modifications of calcium‐carbonate were used, namely calcite and aragonite. Compressive and tensile tests were executed on samples with various compositions to analyze the effect of filler content and particle geometry. Both minerals improved the compressive modulus and strength significantly, however the influence of calcite was superior. The tensile modulus was also highly increased. The elongation at break remained high even at 50 wt% aragonite filling, but decreased with two orders in the case of calcite. Biocompatibility tests were also carried out with human osteoblast cells and the results were promising. The relative cell number increased due to calcium‐carbonate. Both filler material is able to enhance the mechanical and biological properties of poly(ε‐caprolactone) significantly. Aragonite samples remained more ductile compared to calcite ones, but the calcite filled scaffolds are stiffer, stronger and slightly more biocompatible than aragonite filled materials.