Fabrication of polylactic acid / polyethylene glycol/ hydroxyapatite nanoparticles nanocomposite foam by mass porosity method

Nanocomposite foam has small cells due to the presence of reinforcing materials in nanoscale and the presence of neutral gas as a blowing agent . In the foaming process, there are four variables to control the process of saturation time, saturation pressure, foaming time and foaming temperature. In this study, foam temperature, foam time and weight percentage of hydroxyapatite nanoparticles were considered as variables. Nanocomposite samples were prepared by solvent casting. The samples are saturated in a tank with a constant pressure of 3.5 MPa by neutral CO2 gas and after 6 hours the samples are taken out of the tank and separately into hot glycerin under one of the temperature conditions of 90, 110 and 120% with a time of 5 , 37.5 and 70 seconds were placed. The temperature of glycerin and the storage time of the sample inside it are called the temperature and time of the foam. The aim of this study was to prepare porous nanocomposite samples with polylactic acid / polyethylene glycol background and hydroxyapatite nanoparticles with 3% and 5% by weight by mass method, to reduce the density and create a suitable cell diameter inside the samples. The results showed that with increasing foam time from 5 to 70 seconds and foam temperature from 90 to 120 ° C, the density decreases and the cell diameter increases. Increasing the nanoparticles to 3% decreases the density and increases the cell diameter and values of 5% increases the density and decreases the cell diameter.