Physical and mechanical properties of hydroxyapatite/polyethylene glycol nanocomposites

The excellent properties of hydroxyapatite [HAp, Ca10(PO4)6(OH)2] have attracted the interest of researchers and engineers for various applications. Instead of using expensive commercial raw materials, we introduced the use of natural minerals for hydroxyapatite synthesis, precisely the calcite rock from Jember, Indonesia. Our study confirmed that the calcium content in the calcite rock was 98.36%. As a bone substitution compound, hydroxyapatite needs to be composited with polymeric materials, such as polyethylene glycol to improve its mechanical properties. The XRD test results showed that variations in the composition of polyethylene glycol (PEG) affect diffraction peak intensities, lattice parameters, and grain size of crystalline HAp/PEG nanocomposites. The density value of the nanocomposites increases with the addition of PEG up to 4.29 g/cm3. In addition, the value of hardness also increases with the addition of PEG up to 78.50 HVN.