Design of a polymeric composite material femoral stem for hip joint implant

Abstract

Hip joint prosthesis are structural components that still have some challenging problems such as the interaction of physical and biological properties between the stem and the human femur. Composite materials allow to obtain high strength structures with a large variety of modulus of elasticity and favorable characteristics in the context of orthopedic implants. Therefore, the objective of this work was the development of a prosthesis model with biopolymeric matrix, namely the polyurethane (PU) derived from castor oil, reinforced with fiberglass. The implants were made of pure PU, PU with fiberglass, and PU with glass fiber and calcium carbonate. The reinforcement was constructed in the form of a core to be inserted into the hip prosthesis. The core and stem prototypes were produced using three-dimensional printing techniques, and subsequently used in the manufacture of flexible silicone molds. The results showed good mechanical potentialities of this material for orthopedics applications.