Ihab El Sawi

Fabrication and characterization of novel biomimetic PLLA/cellulose/hydroxyapatite nanocomposite for bone repair applications

The purpose of this research is to develop and characterize a novel biomimetic nanocomposite that closely mimics the properties of real bone such as morphology, composition and mechanical characteristics. This novel porous nanocomposite is composed of cotton-sourced cellulose microcrystals, hydroxyapatite nanoparticles and poly l-lactide acid. A unique combination of commonly used fabrication procedures has been developed including pre-treatment of particles using a coupling agent. The effect of various weight ratios of the reinforcing agents was evaluated to assess their influence on the chemical, thermal, and mechanical properties of the nanocomposites. The prepared nanocomposites were characterized using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy, differential scanning calorimetry and compression testing. Our results indicated the presence of molecular interactions between all components leading to an increase of the crystallinity of the polymer from 50% to 80%. Compression test results revealed that increasing the weight ratio of microcrystalline cellulose/poly l-lactide acid and hydroxyapatite/poly l-lactide acid from 0.1 to 0.5 enhanced the compressive yield stress from 0.127 to 2.2MPa and The Youngs modulus from 6.6 to 38MPa, respectively. It was found that the fabricated nanocomposites are comparable with the trabecular bone from compositional, structural, and mechanical point of view.

An investigation of the damage mechanisms and fatigue life diagrams of flax fiber-reinforced polymer laminates

In this paper we investigated the fatigue damage of a unidirectional flax-reinforced epoxy composite using infrared (IR) thermography. Two configurations of flax/epoxy composites layup were studied namely, [0]16 unidirectional ply orientation and [±45]16. The high cycle fatigue strength was determined using a thermographic criterion developed in a previous study. The fatigue limit obtained by the thermographic criterion was confirmed by the results obtained through conventional experimental methods (i.e., Stress level versus Number of cycles to failure). Furthermore, a model for predicting the fatigue life using the IR thermography was evaluated. The model was found to have a good predictive value for the fatigue life. In order to investigate the mechanism of damage initiation in flax/epoxy composites and the damage evolution, during each fatigue test we monitored the crack propagation for a stress level and at different damage stages, a direct correlation between the percentage of cracks and the mean strain was observed.

Osteogenesis and cytotoxicity of a new Carbon Fiber/Flax/Epoxy composite material for bone fracture plate applications

This study is part of an ongoing program to develop a new CF/Flax/Epoxy bone fracture plate to be used in orthopedic trauma applications. The purpose was to determine this new plates in-vitro effects on the level of bone formation genes, as well as cell viability in comparison with a medical grade metal (i.e. stainless steel) commonly employed for fabrication of bone plates (positive control). Cytotoxicity and osteogenesis induced by wear debris of the material were assessed using Methyl Tetrazolium (MTT) assay and reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) for 3 osteogenesis specific gene markers, including bone morphogenetic proteins (BMP2), runt-related transcription factor 2 (Runx2) and Osterix. Moreover, the Flax/Epoxy and CF/Epoxy composites were examined separately for their wettability properties by water absorption and contact angle (CA) tests using the sessile drop technique. The MTT results for indirect and direct assays indicated that the CF/Flax/Epoxy composite material showed comparable cell viability with no cytotoxicity at all incubation times to that of the metal group (p≥0.05). Osteogenesis test results showed that the expression level of Runx2 marker induced by CF/Flax/Epoxy were significantly higher than those induced by metal after 48 h (p=0.57). Also, the Flax/Epoxy composite revealed a hydrophilic character (CA=68.07°±2.05°) and absorbed more water up to 17.2% compared to CF/Epoxy, which reached 1.25% due to its hydrophobic character (CA=93.22°±1.95°) (p<0.001). Therefore, the new CF/Flax/Epoxy may be a potential candidate for medical applications as a bone fracture plate, as it showed similar cell viability with no negative effect on gene expression levels responsible for bone formation compared to medical grade stainless steel.