Development of Biocomposite Materials from Biodegradable Polymer and Bio-hydroxyapatite Derived from Eggshells for Biomedical Applications

Nowadays, significant advances have been made in the development of biodegradable polymeric materials for biomedical applications. This study aims to prepare and characterize composite materials based on PLA/PBAT, a biodegradable polymer blend, reinforced with bio-hydroxyapatite (bio-HAp). First, bio-HAp was obtained from eggshell residues by the wet precipitation method. PLA/PBAT blend with 1.5 wt% of bio-HAp was prepared by melt extrusion and injection molding process. Part of composite samples was irradiated with gamma radiation dose of 25 kGy, at room temperature and presence of air. The effects of the bio-HAp addition into the biodegradable blend were investigated by mechanical tests, XRD, DSC, FE-SEM, and cytotoxicity "in vitro" analysis and the correlation between the properties was discussed. In addition, themicrobiological testswere carried out at irradiated and non-irradiated composite samples in order to evaluate the efficiency of the radiation dose of 25 kGy at composite materials sterilization.