Effect of Composition Variation on the Tensile Strength of Polylactic Acid Reinforced with Natural Polymers for Biodegradable Biomedical Implants

Aims: This research focuses on developing a blend of natural polymers suitable for biomedical implants with standard mechanical (tensile) properties, compatible and consumable with human body

Study Design: This research developed a polymer composite from a blend of the three natural polymer materials with different compositions that can adequately replace non-biodegradable implants.

Place and Duration of Study: The research was conducted at the department of industrial and production engineering and department of metallurgy and material engineering federal university of technology akure Nigeria between 2017 and 2018.

Methodology: Such PLA was blended with starch and chitosan which are the two most abundant natural polymers using compression molding machine. The mechanical (tensile) property test carried out which give information on the strength and stiffness of the composite using the ASTM D3039.also the effect of composition variation of each of the constituent polymer was analysed using multiple regression analysis.

Results: The results shows similarity with the mechanical (tensile) properties of cortical bone which is the major bone in the human body that is susceptible to fracture. The result of the regression analysis revealed a negative 43.129 effect of PLA on the tensile stress; positive 10.43 effect of starch on tensile stress; negative 0.596 combine effect PLA and starch on the tensile and the effect of chitosan we have a NA value which implies that the coefficient is not quantifiable.

Conclusion: Combining PLA and starch with chitosan to obtain biodegradable implant materials represents.