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A New Generation Of Polymer/Ceramic Composite Biomaterials For Bone Regeneration, Mehrnaz Salarian

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

There is a substantial emerging interest for fundamental and applied research on the reinforcement of polymeric materials using nanotechnology. In the biomedical industry, development of novel bone cement composite materials with enhanced mechanical properties is of tremendous potential importance. The most universally used injectable bone cement is made of poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA); however, the major disadvantage of PMMA is its non-biodegradability. Polymers such as poly(propylene fumarate) (PPF) and polycaprolactone (PCL) are biodegradable, but suffer from a lack of mechanical properties. The aim of this research was to test the efficacy of these biodegradable polymers integrating nanotechnology for the development of …