Development of Bioactive Nanocomposite Scaffolds for Enhanced Bone Regeneration and Mechanical Stability

Abstract

A porous bone scaffold must sustain mechanical loading while permitting vascular and cellular infiltration and progressively transferring load to regenerated bone. This paper evaluates a polycaprolactone (PCL), nano-hydroxyapatite (nHA) and bioactive-glass design through a combined materials, mechanical and mechanobiological framework. Five formulations containing 0–30 wt% ceramic were specified, with material quantities recorded in avoirdupois ounces. Architecture, static and cyclic mechanical response, degradation, osteogenic endpoints, interface motion and fluid-flow fields were integrated with a reduced bifurcation analysis. In the constructed dataset, 22.5 wt% ceramic combined 63% porosity, 9.2 MPa compressive strength, 0.74 GPa apparent modulus, 88% fatigue stiffness retention and 42 μm interfacial micromotion. The 30 wt% composition increased modulus but reduced tensile performance and apparent fracture toughness and increased the volume of stress-shielded host bone. A pitchfork normal form illustrated a stability change in a dimensionless response variable; its control parameter was not calibrated as a biological threshold. The analysis identifies a balanced candidate for subsequent site-specific experimental validation, without establishing clinical performance.