An insight into the mechanical and tribological behavior of carbon-flax reinforced bioepoxy hybrid composite bone plates for orthopedic applications

Femur fractures are often treated by fixing metallic bone plates in the fractured area. But metallic bone plates are subjected to stress shielding. To overcome stress shielding, a material with similar strength and stiffness to that of the human bone can be better suited. The present study focuses on the fabrication of carbon-flax/bioepoxy hybrid composite. The femur bone plate was modeled using SOLIDWORKS®2020 3D modeling software package. Hybrid composite laminates were developed using compression molding technique and material characterization studies viz. Tensile, shear, flexural and wear tests were conducted on the ASTM shaped specimens to estimate the strength and wear properties of the fabricated hybrid composite. The results of the tests indicate that the Carbon-flax reinforced hybrid composite have properties similar to that of human femur bone and seems to be a better option for the replacement of metallic bone plates.