ABSTRACT
Polylactic acid/hydroxyapatite (PLA/HAP) biocomposite materials have fascinated much interest as bone substitute biomaterials for many biomedical industries. The bioactivity, mechanical properties, degradability, and architecture of the biocomposite materials vastly depend on the interfacial interaction between fillers and matrix, the fabrication techniques, various properties, and compositions of the raw materials. It has been shown that PLA/HAP biocomposites can be tailored to meet numerous bone substitute requirements. The requirements of biocomposite materials for bone substitute materials are complicated. A diversity of distinctive parameters together with degradation rate, pore microstructures, mechanical strength, porosity, and surface chemistry should be prudently measured and controlled for the design and production of biocomposite materials to meet the needs of bone implant applications. In order to accomplish the abovementioned issues, PLA/HAP biocomposite biomaterials offer a multistage approach and consequently superior potential to control their physical and biological assets rather than fabricating biomaterials produced from HAP and PLA alone. This chapter accumulates the recent literature in PLA/HAP biocomposites towards potential applications in numerous biomedical fields. It highlights the information available on different properties of PLA/HAP biocomposites. Therefore, a basic understanding of correlations between nanoparticle content, scattering, and flow properties (viscosity) and cell nucleation and growth on PLA/HAP biocomposites' properties such as morphological, thermal, mechanical, and melt flow index (MFI) is very crucial. Excellent understanding of different biocomposite systems can help optimize and control the fabrication processes. This has the attention of researchers and consultants in the study of biomaterials. However, a number of issues such as mechanical strength, long-term degradation, and inflammatory responses have to be improved for wider applications of PLA/HAP biocomposites as human bone substitute materials.
