Dynamic mechanical characterization of hydroxyapatite reinforced polyethylene: effect of particle size

Dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA) was used to characterize biomedical compo sites consisting of synthetic hydroxyapatite (HA) particulate reinforced po lyethylene (PE). The effects of the HA volume fraction, temperature and HA particle on the storage modulus (E-I) and damping (tan delta) were investig ated. Increasing HA volume fractions increased E-I and decreased tan delta. E-I w as found to be linearly related to the Young's modulus values obtained from quasi-static tensile tests. Relative modulus and damping studies showed th at the viscoelastic behavior of unfilled PE was different to that of the fi lled matrix due to the presence of thermally induced tensile stresses in th e matrix at the filler-matrix interface. (C) 2000 Kluwer Academic Publisher s.