Abstract
Hydroxyapatite (HA) scaffold was fabricated using the template method at 1100 ℃. The HA scaffolds were then reinforced with polycaprolactone (PCL) porous structures using PCL solutions with different concentration (1-5wt%). Compression test and SEM were done to examine the mechanical properties and the morphology of the composite scaffolds. The compressive strength and the elastic modulus increased with increasing PCL concentration while the pore size decreased. XRD test was also used to study the phase stability of the scaffold. There was no reaction with the PCL phase into the HA scaffold due to no shifted XRD peak pattern shown in the investigation, which is beneficial for applications. On the overall, the results indicated that the HA/PCL composite scaffold can overcome the brittleness and improve the strength and can be a potential candidate for bone tissue engineering.
