Nanofiber Reinforcement for Medical Implants Project Summary The proposed SBIR Phase I project is to optimize a process of producing carbon nanofiber reinforced carbon-pyrolytic carbon (C-PyC) composite for medical implants by integrating catalytic nanofiber growth and carbon deposition into a single operation. The main advantage of this process is the ability to incorporate high strength carbon nanofibers into proven biocompatible pyrolytic carbon coating to create a new class of biomaterial. In addition, since highly biocompatible pyrolytic carbon and high strength carbon nanofibers are engineered in an integrated form, the C-PyC composite is expected to have improved mechanical properties compared with conventional pyrolytic carbon coating. Overall this technology will increase the product reliability and reduce manufacturing cost, thus making the US products more competitive in the world market. One immediate application of this composite will be the next generation medical implants. Since this technology directly fabricates components on substrates at a high rate, it can also be applied to many other applications such as computer hard disc media substrates and aerospace components. Key words: Biomaterial, medical implants, pyrolytic carbon coating, and nanofiber composite
