Document Type

Article

Publication Date

3-2025

Department

Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

Abstract

Bone fracture treatment requires a supportive structure called, bone plate for a specific period required to heal the fractured bone. Titanium, stainless steel, tantalum etc. are widely used as bone plates. However, these metallic bone plates lead to some major problems namely, stress shielding, bone atrophy, high cost etc. because of their very high strength compared to bones. In addition, the metallic bone plates need secondary surgery to remove it from the body. This research aims to develop a sustainable composite bone plate that is biocompatible, bio-functional, and biodegradable in the human body. Firstly, different composite samples were fabricated using locally available low-cost natural fibers like jute, silk, kenaf, etc. reinforced in epoxy, polypropylene, etc. The materials used are known to be fully/partially biodegradable and environmentally friendly. The hybrid fabrication process like the combination of hand lay-up and compression method was used to fabricate the composite samples. Several tests, e.g. mechanical tests (tensile, flexural, and compression test), cytotoxicity tests, microstructure analysis, moisture absorbability, and biodegradability in simulated body fluid, were performed to investigate the properties of the fabricated composites. The tests were performed following respective ASTM standards. The computational analysis on mechanical properties was also performed by Ansys's finite element analysis module and compared/validated the experimental results. The results revealed that that the kenaf/epoxy composite was non-cytotoxic, bio-functional and partially biodegradable, which could be suitable for bone plate application. Overall, the composite bone plate developed from local resources demonstrates biomedical vibrancy and cost-effectiveness. However, it requires further in-vivo evaluation for clinical trials, which is in the plan for the next study.

Publisher's Statement

© 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. Publisher’s version of record: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.hybadv.2024.100361

Publication Title

Hybrid Advances

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

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