Hydroxyapatite (HAp) Extracted from Cockle Shells with Polylactic Acid (PLA) for Bone Implant Application

Abstract

Cockle shell waste has been utilized to produce HAp powders for biomedical applications. This research involves creating HAp powder through a precipitation method and analyzing the properties of CaCO₃, CaO, and HAp. A composite PLA/HAp material was produced with varying ratios of 10%, 20%, and 30% HAp for tensile test samples. The results show that HAp derived from cockle shells contains calcium and phosphorus, similar to commercial HAp. Samples with different weight percentage of HAp provides Young's modulus values comparable to cortical bone (7-30 GPa), with the sample containing 30% HAp achieving the highest value (8.17 GPa), where High Young's modulus values indicate increased stiffness. In summary, cockle shell-derived HAp is a promising material for biomedical applications.