Abstract
The use of ultrasonication can be an useful tool to improve the properties of the collagen/hydroxyapatite (COLL/HA) composite materials. The aim of this paper is to study the influence of the ultrasonication on the synthesis and characteristics of the COLL/HA composite materials. Especially based on the microscopic analyses it can be observed a more uniform distribution of the HA, practically the HA covering the collagenous materials. The integrity of collagen was studied by FTIR, comparing the COLL/HA composite spectrum of the sample obtained by ultrasonication with that of the control sample (no ultrasonication was applied). Due to no changes observed at the C-O region and due to the unaltered ratio between the peaks intensity (between the intensities of the peaks from 1450 and respectively 1240cm-1) of the two composite materials it can be asserted that ultrasonication does not alter the structure of collagen. The resulted composite materials were characterized by Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR), X-Ray Diffraction (XRD), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM). Keywords: collagen/hydroxyapatite nanocomposite; transmission electron microscopy (TEM), ultrasonication