Methods of making self-reinforced composition of amorphous thermoplastics

Abstract

Self-reinforced composites of amorphous thermoplastic materials such as poly(methylmethacrylate), polycarbonate and polysulfone are made by melt-extruding and simultaneously drawing and cooling the material to produce fibers with longitudinally-oriented molecular chains, then arranging the fibers in a preform, such as a mat, rod, plate or other useful shape, in which adjacent fibers are in contact with each other, and thereafter heating the preform with fiber constraint to a temperature above the glass transition temperature and below the degradation temperature of the thermoplastic, and applying pressure, to soften and fuse together the outer surfaces of the fibers without completely eliminating the longitudinal orientation of the molecules within the fibers. Where the amorphous thermoplastic is poly(methylmethacrylate), the preform may be wrapped about the bone-implantable element of a joint prosthesis to provide a high-strength integrated mantle of connected, contracted, and oriented fibers. Upon implantation of the element in the intramedullary cavity of a bone, the surface of the self-reinforced mantle of sintered fibers may then bond chemically with a grouting of conventional poly(methylmethacrylate) bone cement.