Composition–Structure–Property Relationships in PLA-nHA-Mg Hybrid Biocomposites: Effect of Ceramic–Metallic Reinforcement Ratio on Mechanical and Physicochemical Performance
4 affiliations
- 1Department of Mechanical Engineering, Dr Mahalingam College of Engineering and Technology, Coimbatore 642003, Tamil Nadu, India
- 2Department of Mechanical Engineering, Indian Institute of Information Technology Design and Manufacturing Kurnool (IIITDM Kurnool), Kurnool 518008, Andhra Pradesh, India
- 3School of Electrical and Computer Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology Bhubaneswar (IIT BBS), Argul, Jatni, Khordha 752050, Odisha, India
- 4Department of Machining, Assembly and Engineering Metrology, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, VSB-Technical University of Ostrava, 70800 Ostrava, Czech Republic
Abstract
Poly(lactic acid) (PLA) hybridized with nano-hydroxyapatite (nHA) and elemental magnesium (Mg) offers a route to tune load-bearing behavior while retaining a biodegradable polymer matrix. This study compares neat PLA, binary PLA-10Mg and PLA-10nHA controls, and three ternary hybrids containing a constant 10 wt.% total reinforcement at Mg:nHA ratios of 1:1, 3:1, and 1:3. Tensile, compressive, and three-point flexural responses were interpreted together with differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy. Ten specimens were tested per formulation in each mechanical assay (five initial specimens and five confirmatory specimens), and the mechanical data were consolidated across all ten specimens and are reported as an arithmetic mean ± standard deviation (SD). The recorded response was loading-mode-dependent: PLA-5Mg-5nHA combined a tensile stress of 52.0 ± 1.56 MPa with the largest tensile peak displacement ratio of 23.42 ± 0.70%; PLA-7.5Mg-2.5nHA showed the largest flexural peak load of 490.4 ± 14.71 N; and PLA-2.5Mg-7.5nHA combined 52.8 ± 1.58 MPa tensile stress, 93.7 ± 2.81 MPa compressive stress, and 431.5 ± 12.95 N flexural peak load. DSC showed a high-temperature heat-flow event at 365.6–372.6 °C under the stated mixed-purge conditions; this is treated as an operational thermal marker and not a melting or decomposition temperature. XRD remained matrix-dominated with reinforcement-sensitive features, while FTIR showed composition-dependent shifts in the C-O/C-O-C region. The results indicate that Mg:nHA partitioning alters the recorded loading-mode response within the tested 10 wt.% reinforcement window, while particle-scale mechanisms and biological performance require further validation.
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BibTeX
@article{hariharan2026compositionstructureproperty,
title = {{Composition–Structure–Property Relationships in PLA-nHA-Mg Hybrid Biocomposites: Effect of Ceramic–Metallic Reinforcement Ratio on Mechanical and Physicochemical Performance}},
author = {K. Hariharan and B. Veera Siva Reddy and Dola Sundeep and C. Chandrasekhara Sastry and Robert Cep},
journal = {Polymers},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.3390/polym18192438},
url = {https://europepmc.org/article/PMC/PMC13667213},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Composition–Structure–Property Relationships in PLA-nHA-Mg Hybrid Biocomposites: Effect of Ceramic–Metallic Reinforcement Ratio on Mechanical and Physicochemical Performance
AU - K. Hariharan
AU - B. Veera Siva Reddy
AU - Dola Sundeep
AU - C. Chandrasekhara Sastry
AU - Robert Cep
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/01
JO - Polymers
DO - 10.3390/polym18192438
UR - https://europepmc.org/article/PMC/PMC13667213
AB - Poly(lactic acid) (PLA) hybridized with nano-hydroxyapatite (nHA) and elemental magnesium (Mg) offers a route to tune load-bearing behavior while retaining a biodegradable polymer matrix. This study compares neat PLA, binary PLA-10Mg and PLA-10nHA controls, and three ternary hybrids containing a constant 10 wt.% total reinforcement at Mg:nHA ratios of 1:1, 3:1, and 1:3. Tensile, compressive, and three-point flexural responses were interpreted together with differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy. Ten specimens were tested per formulation in each mechanical assay (five initial specimens and five confirmatory specimens), and the mechanical data were consolidated across all ten specimens and are reported as an arithmetic mean ± standard deviation (SD). The recorded response was loading-mode-dependent: PLA-5Mg-5nHA combined a tensile stress of 52.0 ± 1.56 MPa with the largest tensile peak displacement ratio of 23.42 ± 0.70%; PLA-7.5Mg-2.5nHA showed the largest flexural peak load of 490.4 ± 14.71 N; and PLA-2.5Mg-7.5nHA combined 52.8 ± 1.58 MPa tensile stress, 93.7 ± 2.81 MPa compressive stress, and 431.5 ± 12.95 N flexural peak load. DSC showed a high-temperature heat-flow event at 365.6–372.6 °C under the stated mixed-purge conditions; this is treated as an operational thermal marker and not a melting or decomposition temperature. XRD remained matrix-dominated with reinforcement-sensitive features, while FTIR showed composition-dependent shifts in the C-O/C-O-C region. The results indicate that Mg:nHA partitioning alters the recorded loading-mode response within the tested 10 wt.% reinforcement window, while particle-scale mechanisms and biological performance require further validation.
SN - 2073-4360
ER -