Computational analysis on mechanostructural properties of hydroxyapatite–alumina–titanium nanocomposite

Abstract

In this research, Taguchi–grey relational analysis has been applied to mitigate the insufficient assumptions made on the optimization of mechanical and structural (mechanostructural) properties of synthesized hydroxyapatite (HAp)–alumina–titanium nanocomposite. This nanocomposite has already been developed and studied in the previous study. This paper employs the L9 (3**3) orthogonal array, including displaying factors and levels of 3, 5, 7 wt % for alumina, 5, 10, 15 wt % for titanium, and 1100, 1150, 1200 °C sintering temperature. The computational analysis presents the predicted mechanostructural grey relational response as 0.7271, higher than the highest response shown in the ninth experimental run. The optimal control factors are analyzed to be 7 wt % alumina, 15 wt % titanium, and 1200 °C sintering temperature. The obtained result elucidates the hypothesis that a singular response optimization is not enough in the fabrication of biomedical material, disproving the assumption made in the previous literature. Importantly, to fabricate a high clinical grade HAp–alumina–titanium nanocomposite, titanium is the most invaluable contributor with a contribution of 49.11%, followed by alumina (45.52%), and then sintering temperature (3.2%). Although the confidence level and probability distribution analysis show that all the experimental mechanostructural responses were within the 95% confidence level, the employment of the predicted optimal factors is strongly recommended for experimentation.