Response of 45S5 Bioglass® foams to tensile loading

The tensile strength test of highly porous ceramic foams has been developed and first results have been obtained on bioactive glass foams. The tested material was a 45S5 Bioglass (R) derived foam-like scaffold intended for use in bone tissue engineering which was manufactured by Bioglass (R) slurry coating of polyurethane foam and subsequent sintering. The Bioglass (R) foam structure was investigated in two states: uncoated (as fabricated) and with a PDLLA polymer coating. The tensile testing procedure is based on fixation of the foam into aluminium pots by a suitable adhesive. Tensile test samples having cross-section of 10 x 10 mm(2) and a length of 30 mm were used for the experiments. Basic fractographic analysis was applied to get relevant information about specimens' behaviour during tensile loading. In Bioglass (R) based scaffolds, the presence of PDLLA coating led to a significant increase of the fracture strength, which is attributed to the interaction of the polymer phase with propagating cracks, e.g. enabling a crack bridging mechanism to take place. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd and Techna Group S.r.l. All rights reserved.