Feasibility of knitted carbon/PEEK composites for orthopedic bone plates

This paper focuses on fabrication and characterization of knitted carbon/PEEK fabric composites for orthopedic bone plate application. Bending performance of the knitted carbon/PEEK composite bone plates was investigated with respect to two principal knitting directions (wale- and course-directions). As a result, the wale-direction knitted composite bone plates had much scattering in bending stiffness and maximum bending moment although they exhibited the same bending behavior as that of the course-direction specimens. In comparison with our previously developed braided composite bone plates, the knitted composite bone plates had 55-59% bending stiffness, 40-63% yield bending moment, and 54-77% maximum bending moment. However, the knitted composite bone plates showed higher deformability. Based on the results of the braided composite bone plates, it is considered that the knitted composite plate with 3.2 mm thickness can be suitable for forearm or humerus treatment especially when damaged bones need higher deformation to encourage bone ossification. (C) 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.