Biomechanical Aspects of Carbon Nanotube as a Reinforcing Scaffold for Bone Tissue
Date
2014-02-21
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Abstract
Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) were introduced as potential and promising “players” in bone healing and regeneration less than a decade ago. This stimulated extensive researches that mostly focused on the unique and extraordinary characteristics of CNTs to suggest interesting applications in bone tissue engineering. Beside their biochemical properties, which probably were the first reason to consider CNTs for these applications, their exceptional mechanical properties also suggested the idea of creating a reinforced composite material stronger and stiffer than natural bone, while remaining very similar in structure and chemical composition. This was where the biomechanical considerations portrayed themselves to justify the need for further investigations, in order to verify the applicability of CNTs as scaffolds that may ease bone regeneration and simultaneously raise its mechanical strength and durability.
This research attempts to look at some of the mechanical changes likely to take place in the promised artificial tissue, while considering the relationships between mechanical and living functions of bone. Although there is still a definite lack of published experiments that can accurately describe these changes, the modeling approaches taken in this work may be able to at least qualitatively predict the overall mechanical changes linked to the bone living functions (particularly the remodeling process). Changes in the material’s stiffness, strength, strain energy (SE) distribution and fracture behavior under certain loading conditions were reviewed using different models. The results showed elevated stiffness and strength values due to the reinforcement mechanism. It was found that SE patterns in the tissue changed significantly due to the fact that the stiff reinforcing phase stores most of the energy and prevents optimal distribution of the SE within the rest of the tissue. Also, decreased stress intensity at the crack tips as well as pause or deviation of microcrack propagation in the presence of CNTs were indicated.
The conclusion was drawn that, notwithstanding the significant improvements induced to the mechanical behavior of the artificial tissue, applications of such stiff inclusions as CNTs in reinforcing the material of bone may detrimentally change the thresholds of mechanical stimuli that are essential for the initiation and resumption of the bone remodeling process.
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Engineering--Biomedical, Engineering--Mechanical
Citation
PourAkbar Saffar, K. (2014). Biomechanical Aspects of Carbon Nanotube as a Reinforcing Scaffold for Bone Tissue (Doctoral thesis, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada). Retrieved from https://prism.ucalgary.ca. doi:10.11575/PRISM/25131