Abstract
Hydroxyapatite (HA) scaffolds have been utilized in bone tissue engineering. Although their bioactivity is suitable for formation of bone tissue, the brittleness of HA scaffolds sometimes results in sudden fracture of the scaffolds. In this study, continuous porous structures of HA were fabricated by the template method with polyurethane sponge as the template. These pure HA scaffolds were then coated with a natural bio-polymer, collagen. Also, secondary porous phase of collagen was introduced into the pores of HA by the freeze-drying method. Their microstructures were observed by FE-SEM to characterize the porous structures. Compressive tests were also conducted to evaluate the mechanical properties such as elastic modulus and strength. The results clearly indicated that the introduction of collagen coating or secondary phase effectively improved the mechanical properties of HA scaffolds.
