Membranas de poli(éter-éter-cetona) sulfonado com incorporação de hidroxiapatita para aplicação como biomaterial.

Abstract

Polyether (ether-ketone) (PEEK) is a semi-crystalline thermoplastic polymer belonging the high performance engineering polymers and has properties such as biocompatibility, modulus of elasticity close to bone and mechanical strength, making it suitable to use as biomaterials. In biomedicine has become an attractive when chemically modified with sulfuric acid and incorporating hydroxyapatite, to facilitate workability and bioactivity. This development contributes to reduce costs and possible application in the Unified Health System (UHS). Thus, this work aims to develop a methodology to manufacture sulfonated PEEK membranes with hydroxyapatite to use as biomaterials. An exploratory phase was developed to develop the methodological steps to obtain all membranes, and then an experimental planning was carried out to evaluate the influence of the main process variables. All samples were submitted to Spectroscopy in the Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR); Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM); Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy (EDS); Thermogravimetric Analysis (TGA); Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC); Wettability; Cytotoxicity; Cell Adhesion. The results in the exploratory phase demonstrated that the best method tested was the addition of PEEK during agitation, lyophilized membrane and, the hydroxyapatite added still under stirring, the washing must be more careful to remove the residual acid and the drying must be performed with a lower temperature for longer in the oven. In the experimental design, it was demonstrated that the samples E7 and E15 presented better results, reaching higher hydrophilicity and sulphonation. The biological results demonstrated viability and cell adhesion, thus the methodology developed was effective for the application of SPEEK membrane with hydroxyapatite as biomaterial. In addition, this development presented low cost, shorter laboratory time and simpler processing.