A New Design for Manufacturing Process of Porous Resorbable Implant Materials

New Jersey Institute Of Technology, Newark NJ

Investigators

Abstract

The objective of this research is to explore the possibility of manufacturing resorbable implant material from powder phase via fiber stage to porous scaffold. The envisioned manufacturing process will consider in particular the mixture with collagen for extra tensile strength and toughness of implant materials. The approach is to adapt some of the key manufacturing process in the paper-making industry for a more efficient and economic production of biocompatible open cell porous implant materials. The important manufacturing concepts include both wet and dry end operations as well as an additional ceramic hydroxyapatite fiber convertion process. In the wet end operation, hydroxyapatite and collagen fibers will be mixed with chemical additives and distributed uniformly to a moving wire mat. In the dry end operation, implant material sheets will be transported through a serious of drying apparatus and fit into different sized sheets or rolls. The societal benefits of this proposed research include the potentially feasible mass production of implant materials with open cell porous microstructures mimicking the nature. The branching out of the paper manufacturing techniques in the production of advanced biocompatible implant materials is beneficial not only to the paper industry per se but also to the emerging bioscience and bioengineering industrial sectors. The educational impacts include fostering multi-disciplinary engineering education in the Othmer Interdisciplinary Research Institute in Polytechnic University, an institute in the Metropolitan New York area focusing the education of students with different religious and ethnic backgrounds.