Estimation of Porosity Effect on Mechanical Properties in Calcium Phosphate Cement Reinforced by Strontium Nitrate Nanoparticles: Fabrication and FEM Analysis

Nowadays, the design of porous bone scaffolds represents a crucial issue in orthopedical applications. In this article, the mechanical properties of a multi-component scaffold with different porosity percentages were investigated. Mori-Tanaka equations were used to estimate various properties of calcium phosphate (CaP) bone cement reinforced by strontium nitrate nanoparticles (NPs) based on porosity percentages in both cases; before and after samples placement in simulated body fluid (SBF) solution. With the support of these equations, the mechanical properties of bone cement material without porosity were estimated to be used in finite element analysis (FEA); so then to assess structural stability and stress distribution, the experimental compression tests on the scaffold were simulated with the ABAQUS engineering package. The mechanical properties observation indicates that the grain and particle size increased by nitrate addition to the bone cement. The approach in this manuscript allows quantifying the effect of porosity on mechanical properties of CaP cements reinforced by the strontium nitrate NPs, to be fabricated based on the patient's needs.