Affiliations 

  • 1 Medical Devices and Technology Centre (MEDiTEC), Institute of Human Centered Engineering (iHumEn), Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, UTM, 81310, Johor Bahru, Johor, Malaysia; Bioinspired Devices and Tissue Engineering (BIOINSPIRA) Research Group, School of Biomedical Engineering and Health Sciences, Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, UTM, 81310, Johor Bahru, Johor, Malaysia
  • 2 Medical Devices and Technology Centre (MEDiTEC), Institute of Human Centered Engineering (iHumEn), Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, UTM, 81310, Johor Bahru, Johor, Malaysia; Department of Mining, Metallurgical and Materials Engineering, Laval University, Quebec City, QC, G1V0A6, Canada
  • 3 Medical Devices and Technology Centre (MEDiTEC), Institute of Human Centered Engineering (iHumEn), Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, UTM, 81310, Johor Bahru, Johor, Malaysia; Bioinspired Devices and Tissue Engineering (BIOINSPIRA) Research Group, School of Biomedical Engineering and Health Sciences, Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, UTM, 81310, Johor Bahru, Johor, Malaysia. Electronic address: muhammad.hanif.ramlee@biomedical.utm.my
J Mech Behav Biomed Mater, 2022 Nov;135:105457.
PMID: 36116340 DOI: 10.1016/j.jmbbm.2022.105457

Abstract

In the last decade, magnesium alloys have been considered as absorbable metals for biomedical applications, while some have reached their clinical use as temporary bone implants. However, their widespread use is still limited by its strength and degradability. One way of improvement can be done by reinforcing magnesium alloys with carbon nanofibres to form composites. This work aims at developing carbon nanofibre-reinforced magnesium-zinc (Mg-Zn/CNF) composites with optimum strength and degradability while ensuring their biocompatibility. A response surface method was used to determine their optimum process parameters (composition, compaction pressure, and sintering temperature), and analyse the resulting properties (elastic modulus, hardness, weight loss, and cytocompatibility). Results showed that the optimal parameters were reached at 1.8% of CNF, 425 MPa of compaction pressure, and 500 °C of sintering temperature, whereby it gave an elastic modulus of 5 GPa, hardness of 60 Hv, and a weight loss of 51% after three days immersion in PBS. The composites exhibited a hydrophobic surface that controlled the liberation of Mg2+ and Zn2+ ions, leading to more than 70% osteoblast cells viability up to seven days of incubation. This study can also serve as a starting point for future researchers interested in finding methods to fabricate Mg-Zn/CNF composites with high mechanical characteristics, corrosion resistance, and biocompatibility.

* Title and MeSH Headings from MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.