Affiliations 

  • 1 Department of Chemical & Environmental Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus, Jalan Broga, 43500 Semenyih, Selangor, Malaysia
  • 2 Department of Chemical & Environmental Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus, Jalan Broga, 43500 Semenyih, Selangor, Malaysia. Electronic address: khalid.siddiqui@nottingham.edu.my
  • 3 Energy Research Group, School of Engineering, Taylor's University, 47500 Subang Jaya, Selangor, Malaysia
  • 4 Radiation Processing Technology Division, Malaysian Nuclear Agency, Bangi, Malaysia
  • 5 School of Bioscience, Taylor's University, 47500 Subang Jaya, Selangor, Malaysia
  • 6 Department of Biomedical Engineering, King Faisal University, Al-Hofuf, Al-Ahsa 31982, Saudi Arabia
Mater Sci Eng C Mater Biol Appl, 2016 Oct 01;67:792-806.
PMID: 27287178 DOI: 10.1016/j.msec.2016.05.037

Abstract

Bones are nanocomposites consisting of a collagenous fibre network, embedded with calcium phosphates mainly hydroxyapatite (HA) nanocrystallites. As bones are subjected to continuous loading and unloading process every day, they often tend to become prone to fatigue and breakdown. Therefore, this review addresses the use of nanocomposites particularly polymers reinforced with nanoceramics that can be used as load bearing bone implants. Further, nanocomposite preparation and dispersion modification techniques have been highlighted along with thorough discussion on the influence that various nanofillers have on the physico-mechanical properties of nanocomposites in relation to that of natural bone properties. This review updates the nanocomposites that meet the physico-mechanical properties (strength and elasticity) as well as biocompatibility requirement of a load bearing bone implant and also attempts to highlight the gaps in the reported studies to address the fatigue and creep properties of the nanocomposites.

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