Sustainable and Eco-friendly Based Hydroxyapatite Particles-Wool Fiber Hybrid Reinforced Epoxy Bio-composites for Biomedical Applications

Abstract

The rapid growth of the world population and industrialization has led to an unparalleled rise in the generation of wastes from animals in the agricultural and food processing industries among other sectors. Besides this, the concerns for the future create an urgent requirement for sustainable materials that can substitute conventional, non-renewable composites in many applications. Hence, this study investigates the development of bio-composites using animal wastes as reinforcement materials. The research offers an environmentally acceptable process that aid waste management and addition to enhancing the performance of materials for modern day’s applications. Shells and wools were processed to obtain hydroxyapatite particles (HAp) of 18.52 μm sizes and 10 mm long fibers, respectively that were used as reinforcements in epoxy. Stir cast molding in an open mold was used to fabricate the epoxy-based bio-composites with varying proportions of the constituents. Mechanical, wear and microstructural images evaluations revealed and support the use of these bio-reinforcement based materials. The results indicated that wear, hardness and impact strength properties were enhanced with 18 wt.% reinforced composites providing the optimum properties when compared to other weight fractions. It showed optimum values in wear (0.123), hardness (78.4 HS), impact strength (83.1 J/mm²) and maximum flexural strength (85.2 MPa) supporting the recommendation for use as adhesive biomedical materials in biomedical applications such as orthopaedical implants, dental implants, scaffolds, bone repair, wound healing, and periodontal regeneration.