Polymer composites for obtaining human anatomic structures

Polymer Composites for Bone Reconstruction

The need for reconstructive surgery of bones is continuously increasing along with the ageing of the population as well as the increase of traumatologic injuries. In the United States, the number of bone grafts was 350,000 in 2001. Nowadays, over 500,000 bone graft procedures are performed annually, and approximately 2.2 million worldwide (Giannoudis et al., 2005). The estimated cost of these p...

Polymer Microvascular Network Composites

Microvascular networks show promise for applications such as selfhealing, self-cooling, and structural damage sensing. Fluid-filled micro-scale channels have been investigated extensively in the field of microfluidics, but threedimensional networks in polymeric structural materials have been achieved only recently. The purpose of microvascular network integration is to provide a vehicle for the...

Ionomeric Polymer-Metal Composites

Shape-Memory Polymer Composites

The development of shape-memory polymer composites (SMPCs) enables high recovery stress levels as well as novel functions such as electrical conductivity, magnetism, and biofunctionality. In this review chapter the substantial enhancement in mechanical properties of shape-memory polymers (SMPs) by incorporating small amounts of stiff fillers will be highlighted exemplarily for clay and polyhedr...

Carbon Nanotube Polymer Composites

Figure2 While there are limitless applications for these materials, we are interested in radiation shielding and radiation resistant materials for use in the space industry. Initially, we focused on optically transparent single wall nanotoube (SWNT) polymer composites (2-5). Three different in situ polymerization/sonication methods, heat, light and gamma radiation, were used to produce poly (me...