How carbon fiber could treat broken bones

A University of Arizona researcher has developed a carbon fiber fabric that can be inserted around fractured bones to heal bones in locations traditional casts can’t access.

Engineering professor Hamid Saadatmanesh developed a flexible carbon fiber fabric that is filled with an inert polymer to inflate the fabric. The fabric can be inserted inside and around a fractured bone to act as a permanent cast that cannot be rebooked.

The University of Arizona professor is working with UAVenture Capital and started a company, MediCarbone, to commercialize the fabric.

“Hamid is a brilliant engineer who has used his entrepreneurial skills and imagination to solve significant worldwide issues through the creative use of carbon fiber,” CEO and founder of UAVenture Capital Fletcher McCusker said in a news release. “We see huge opportunities for both infrastructure repair and medical utilization of his inventions.”

“We are excited about Dr. Saadatmanesh’s innovation for bone repair because of the difference the medical application can make and the lack of anything similar in the marketplace,” Doug Hockstaf, assistant VP of Tech Launch Arizona, which commercializes technologies from the University of Arizona, said. “This kind of creative application of carbon fiber technology is yet one more example of how the University of Arizona is engaged in moving the Fourth Industrial Revolution forward.”