Synthesis And Characterization Of Polyetheretherketone/hydroxyaptite Composites Via Solution Blending Method

Polyetheretherketone (PEEK) polymers have been used in various industrial and military areas. PEEK/ hydroxyapatite (HA) biocomposite materials have been recently investigated due to their potential applications as bioactive implants. For the first time in publication this work prepareed PEEK/HA composite mateirals by a solution blending method in order to improve the dispersion of HA particles in PEEK matrix. Furthermore, the surface of HA particles was modified by 3-glycidoxy -propyltrimethoxysilane (KH560) to enhance the interaction between PEEK and HA particles.The silane modified HA powders were characterized by Infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), thermogravimetic Analysis (TGA) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The stability of the suspension of tetramethylene sulfone and HA particles was also tested. The results showed that KH560 can be grafted on the HA surface successfully and the amount of the grafted silane was approximate 1.3% of total weight.The investigation exhibits that PEEK/HA composite mateirals can be prepared by the solution blending method, and the solvent residual in the materials was less than 2wt.% accoding to the TGA results. The mechanical properties of the composites were measured, and the results illustrated that the Young's modulus of composite materials increased with the increase of HA content. The tensile strength achieved a maximum of 76.21MPa at 5wt.% HA content. The hardness of the composites also incresesd with the increase of HA content, and the hardness of the composite materials prepared from silane modified HA had a high hardness than that of the composites from unmodified HA. The microstructure of the fracture section of the composites was observed by the scan electron microscopy (SEM). The results showed that the HA aggregation became serious with HA content increase. However, the SEM micrographs reveal that a certain degree of binding between the silane modified HA particles and PEEK existed, indicating the positive effects of silane grafting on HA particles.On the other hand, this study prepared the laminated materials with different HA contents each layer by a compression molding process and coating. The experimental results showed the possibility of fabricating the multilayer composites that can have both good mechanical properties and good bioactivity.