Polymer composites have great potential applications
in the hip
joint replacement, where the combinations of high mechanical strength
and excellent biotribological properties are required. In this work,
a well-dispersed three-dimensional (3D) silicon nitride nanowire membrane
(SNm) designed as a reinforcement and brushite (Bs) served as bioactive
filler are constructed into the polymer matrix, forming SNm-reinforced
Bs/polymer composites (SNm-Bs/Pm). Especially, SNm could form a 3D
interlocked structure, where the ultralong silicon nitride nanowires
are entangled with each other. SNm could effectively facilitate the
penetration of the polymer matrix and improve the cohesion strength
of the polymer, thereby promoting mechanical and biotribological properties
for SNm-Bs/Pm. The performances for polymer composites are optimized
by increasing the layer number of preform. By comparing SNm-Bs/Pm
with one-layer preform, the tensile strength of SNm-Bs/Pm with six-layer
preforms reaches 83.3 MPa with an increase of 767.7%. In addition,
the friction coefficient and wear rate of SNm-Bs/Pm with six-layer
preforms in fetal bovine serum medium achieve 0.06 and 0.21 ×
10–14 m3(N·m)−1 and decrease by 82.4 and 72.4%, respectively. The present work provides
a promising methodology of preparing interlocked SNm-reinforced polymer
composites with enhanced mechanical and biotribological properties
that are potential for hip joint replacement applications.