Production of novel textile-based artificial anterior cruciate ligament

Abstract

The aim of this research was to produce artificial anterior cruciate ligaments (ACL) using the weaving (plain and leno) and braiding techniques, and to compare the mechanical and fatigue life properties of these ligaments with the natural ACL. For this purpose, tubular fabric structures were produced on braiding and weaving machines from polyester and Vectran yarns. To turn these structures into ligaments, the core of the tubes were filled with straight yarns. The mechanical properties of the resulted ligaments were tested before and after a fatigue test. The results showed that all produced ligaments provide enough tensile strength and breaking elongation when they were compared with the natural ACL mechanical properties. After the fatigue test, the tensile strength of ligaments did not decline substantially. Regarding the tensile strength, the leno weaving structure has the most similar properties to the natural ACL. The leno weaving ligament made from Vectran has one-third of the strain percentage of the natural ACL.