Method of fabricating graphite for use as a skeletal prosthesis and product thereof
AssigneeThe United States of America as represented by the United States Department of Energy
InventorsWalter P. Eatherly, J. M. Robbins, David E. Rosson, Sr.
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Abstract
A method for producing porous graphite for use as bone replacement with a structure for osteon penetration. Graphite is produced with ordered circular pores of 100 to 1000 microns in diameter covering at least 25% of the exposed surfaces. A cylindrical fiber is coated with a carbon flour-pitch mix and is then wound on a bobbin in a predetermined manner. The product of winding is dried, pressed, carbonized, and then graphitized. The fibers are removed either chemically or by volatilization during carbonization or graphitization.
Claims7
A method for producing a prosthetic article, comprising the steps of:
- passing a fugitive fiber through a slurry comprising a carbon powder filler and a thermosetting carbon precursor binder to coat said fiber with said slurry;
- winding said fiber into a generally elliptical toroidal configuration having cross sections containing a parallel array of fibers created by the arrangement of said fugitive fiber, said parallel array of fibers having interstices between said fibers substantially filled with said slurry;
- setting said binder to create a cured configuration;
- cutting said cured configuration at points substantially perpendicular to said parallel array to produce a plurality of generally cylindrical sections having said parallel array of fibers embodied therein with said fibers being substantially parallel to the axis of each said cylindrical section;
- destructively removing said parallel array of fibers from said cylindrical sections to leave uniformly dispersed generally parallel pores having a diameter within the range of 100 to 1000 micrometers within carbon precursor relics;
- and
- carbonizing said relics.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.