Synergized high‐load bearing bone replacement composite from poly(lactic acid) reinforced with hydroxyapatite/glass fiber hybrid filler—Mechanical and dynamic mechanical properties

Abstract High‐load bearing bone replacement composite was produced from poly(lactic acid) (PLA), surface modified hydroxyapatite (HA) and glass fiber (GF). Composition dependence and other salient properties of the composites were investigated with respect to the mechanical and dynamic mechanical performance of the composites. Incorporation of modified HA facilitates dispersion, improves bonding, as well as induce heterogeneous nucleation in the PLA matrix. On the other hand, GF greatly influenced the mechanical properties of the composite. The effectiveness coefficient, C, and adhesion factor, A, showed that incorporation of hybrid HA/GF filler helps to improve interfacial interaction due to increased bonding among the components, which produced remarkable enhancement in mechanical performance. For instance, tensile and flexural modulus of the PLA‐HA‐GF composite was raised by 86% and 82%, respectively. In addition, whereas incorporation of HA alone resulted in decreased impact strength (IS) of PLA, the IS of the PLA‐HA‐GF composite improved by 42%. Furthermore, damping of the ternary composite was reduced by 34% whereas the storage modulus is 1273 MPa higher than neat PLA. Therefore, hybrid HA/GF reinforced PLA offers alternative possibility for the fabrication of composites suitable for use in bone replacement and other orthopedic applications requiring high‐load bearing materials.