This Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) Phase I project addresses the need for affordable, durable thermoplastic composites for implantable prosthetics. Thermoplastic matrix composites such as carbon fiber-polyetheretherketone (CF-PEEK) have many desirable qualities for use in orthopedic composites including biocompatibility, high strength-top-with-ration and toughness. Composites with lower density are demanded for replacing metallic orthopedic prostheses. Societal benefits from replacing metals with lightweight and more physiologically compatible composites are enormous.
The benefits to morphology-controlled CF-PEEK composites fabricated by simpler manufacturing methods include: higher transverse strength, higher damage tolerance, excellent physiological durability, and lower manufacturing costs. The broader impacts of this technology are cost reduction CF-PEEK composite manufacturing, which would allow a wider application of the composites in medical rehabilitative systems, the control and enhancement of composite mechanical properties, which may open up additional biomedical application, and the potential expansion of the technological process innovation to the aerospace industry.
