Fiber Reinforced Polymer Matrix Composites for Orthopaedic Implants

Abstract

Femur fractures, that are frequently caused by trauma or osteoporosis, present major issues due to their impact on mobility and quality of life. Despite the fact that metallic implants, such as titanium and stainless steel, are strong and biocompatible, they nonetheless raise issues with stress shielding, changed biomechanics, and diagnostic imaging limits. This study proposes biocompatible epoxy composites reinforced with kevlar fibers (KF), carbon fibers (CF), hybrid fibers, and flax as alternatives to metallic implants in order to overcome these constraints. We discovered that KF composites outperformed others in terms of mechanical properties, with an ultimate tensile strength of 283.5 MPa as well as flexural strengths of 35.7 MPa and 90.4 MPa for the first and second modes, respectively, at a volume fraction of 24%. Although flax fibers have the benefit of being natural, their performance has lagged. Carbon and hybrid fiber composites performed comparably to flax but not as well as kevlar. Notably, the presence of kevlar in hybrid composites increased performance when compared to carbon composites. While all composites lost 50 % of their ductility while shifting from the first to the second flexural mode. This was compensated by a considerable increase in flexural strength. These results indicate that, despite resolving issues with metallic implants, kevlar fiber-reinforced composites show potential as an alternative material for femur implants because of their better mechanical characteristics. For clinical translation, more investigation is necessary to optimize fiber combinations, improve composite architectures, and evaluate in vivo biocompatibility.