JP2001248048A - Structured fiber product and method for producing the same - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To efficiently produce a bulk-like structured fiber product. SOLUTION: This structured fiber product 1 is formed into required shape by arranging a belt-like material 2 in a folded and stacked condition which is formed by flattening a braided cord through pressing and crushing in such a way that the cross section of the cord forms nearly a rectangle. A yarn 3 for retaining the shape of the product 1 is arranged in the only one direction perpendicular to the face of the material 2. Since the material 2 is arranged in a condition that each turnup position is regulated by a pin, the product 1 is formed into required shape with an excellent precision even when the material 2 is folded and arranged in such a way that a distance between turn-rounds is partially different from every layer. An organic fiber having been made on an experimental basis and/or put to practical use as a biomaterial up to now is used as a material for the belt-like material 2.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a fiber structure and a method for manufacturing the same, and more particularly, to a fiber structure suitable as, for example, an implant material or a shock absorbing material, and a method for manufacturing the same.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art JP-A-7-148243 and Biom
aterials 19 (1998) 617-635 is based on a biocompatible bulk structure consisting of organic fibers as a three-dimensional woven or knitted structure, or a composite structure combining these. It has been disclosed. As shown in FIG.
Although the shape of the implant material 30 depends on the purpose, it is, for example, a cube, a rectangular parallelepiped, a columnar or annular body having a substantially semicircular cross section, or a cross body.

Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 7-148243 discloses, as an implant material, a three-dimensional fibrous tissue structure composed of a block-shaped orthogonal tissue or an X-axis and a Y-axis obliquely at 45 ° to the Z-axis. It is disclosed that some three-dimensional fiber tissue structures were woven using a manual simulator.

[0004]

In the above-mentioned publications and the like, the properties of fibers and the effectiveness of surface treatment are stated with respect to biocompatibility. However, regarding the production of fiber tissue itself, a conventional method for producing a three-dimensional fiber tissue is used. To organize into a predetermined shape. Many uses as implant materials are prostheses for artificial bones (cartilage) and some alternative materials. Many of them have a size of several centimeters, and some have a thickness of less than 1 cm. is there. This is a three-dimensional fibrous tissue
It is difficult to efficiently manufacture individual implant materials even when the implant material has a simple shape such as a cube or a rectangular parallelepiped, and more difficult when the implant material is not a simple shape.

In addition, it is difficult to efficiently produce a bulky fiber structure having a simple shape as a three-dimensional structure from the beginning, not limited to the implant material. The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned conventional problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a fiber structure capable of efficiently producing a bulk fiber structure and a method for producing the same.

[0006]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, in order to achieve the above object, a belt-like material formed of a cloth such as a woven fabric, a knitted fabric, or a braid (braid) is bent into a predetermined shape. And sewed with a thread so as to maintain the predetermined shape.

In the fibrous structure of the present invention, a belt-shaped material is bent and shaped into a predetermined shape, and the shape is held by a suture. Therefore, by cutting and using a long strip-shaped material to a required length, it can be manufactured more easily than in the case of weaving one by one with a three-dimensional fiber structure.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the present invention, the band-shaped material is formed by flatly crushing a braided braided braid. In the present invention, since the belt-shaped material is composed of a braid, the physical properties of the belt-shaped material can be controlled by the orientation angle of the fibers (threads) constituting the braid, and the belt-shaped material is bent into a predetermined shape. When doing so, the degree of freedom of the shape increases.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the first or second aspect of the present invention, the band-shaped material is arranged in a state of being folded and laminated so that the folded width is partially different. . According to the present invention, not only a simple shape such as a cube or a rectangular parallelepiped, but also a complicated shape including a slope can be handled.

[0010] According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the third aspect of the invention, the band-shaped material is formed such that the width thereof is changed regularly. Therefore, the present invention can easily cope with a complicated shape including a slope, instead of a simple shape such as a cube or a rectangular parallelepiped.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in the third or fourth aspect of the present invention, the band-shaped material is continuously arranged so as to cover an outer periphery of the folded laminated portion. Therefore, in the present invention, the continuous uneven surface of the folded portion on both sides formed by folding the band-shaped material is covered with the band-shaped material, so that the outer periphery becomes smooth.

[0012] In the manufacturing method according to the sixth aspect of the present invention, after a band-like material formed of cloth such as a woven fabric, a knitted fabric, or a braid is formed into a predetermined shape by determining its bending position using a pin. ,
And a step of sewing the layered portion of the strip-shaped material with a thread in order to maintain a predetermined shape.

Therefore, in the manufacturing method of the present invention, the bending position of the belt-shaped material is easily and reliably positioned.
A fiber structure having a desired shape can be manufactured with high accuracy.

[0014]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS (First Embodiment) A first embodiment in which the present invention is embodied in a fiber structure used as an implant material will be described below with reference to FIGS. As shown in FIGS. 1A to 1D, the fibrous structure 1 is formed by bending a band-shaped material 2 made of cloth into a predetermined shape, and holding the yarn 3 so that the predetermined shape is maintained. Sewn with. The fibrous structure 1 is formed in a column shape by winding a strip-shaped material 2 from the center in a spiral shape. The fiber structure 1 of FIG. 1A has an elliptical column shape even with the same column shape, and FIG.
(D) are formed in a rectangular parallelepiped shape.
The shape of the fibrous structure 1 can be changed by changing a bending position, a bending angle, and a pressing force when the band-shaped material 2 is wound. The fiber structure 1 is not limited to a rotationally symmetric shape. Can also be formed.

The fiber structure 1 shown in FIGS. 1B and 1C has the same winding style and outer shape of the belt-shaped material 2, but FIG.
Are sewn so as to be arranged in one direction, and (c) is different in that the threads 3 are sewn so as to be arranged in two orthogonal directions. (D) is a rectangular parallelepiped having the same outer shape as those of (b) and (c), but is formed of a band-shaped material 2 wider than those of (b) and (c), and is used as a material of the same shape. When a load is applied to the fibrous structure 1, the direction of the load is different, and the deformation amount and shape are different. For example, when the fiber structure 1 is used so that a load acts on the widest surface, the load acts on the surface of the strip material 2 in parallel in the fiber structure 1 of (b) and (c), and (d) Acts perpendicular to the surface of the strip-shaped material 2.

In this embodiment, as shown in FIGS. 2 (a) and 2 (b), a braided braid (round braid) is flatly crushed as the belt-shaped material 2 to substantially cross-section. What is formed so as to form a rectangle is used. FIG. 2 shows that the belt-shaped material 2 is arranged so that the yarn 4 forms an orientation angle of ± θ with respect to the longitudinal direction, that is, in the bias direction.
FIG. 2 shows a biaxial structure shown in (a) or an orientation angle of 0 and ± θ.
A three-axis structure shown in (b) is used. The yarns 4 arranged in the bias direction are folded back on the surface of the fibrous structure 1, and the ends of the yarns 4 are not exposed on the surface. When the yarn 4 having an orientation angle of 0 is formed by a braider, the core yarn 4a
Are arranged as

In the braid, the physical properties of the belt-shaped material 2 can be controlled by the orientation angle of the yarn 4 in the bias direction. When the orientation angle is large, the strength in the width direction is large, and when the orientation angle is small, the strength in the longitudinal direction is large. In the case of a triaxial structure, the shape is stable because the yarn 4 in the longitudinal direction exists. The biaxial structure has lower shape stability than the triaxial structure, but has a higher degree of freedom in shaping. In addition, the porosity of the band-shaped material 2 manufactured by the tension applied to the yarn 4 when the braid is manufactured can be changed.

As the material of the yarn 4, an organic fiber which has been conventionally produced and put to practical use as a biomaterial is used. Examples of the organic fibers include synthetic fibers such as nylon, polyethylene terephthalate, polyethylene, and polyurethane disclosed in JP-A-7-148243, and natural fibers such as silk, collagen, and chitosan. The thickness of the yarn 4 varies depending on the strength and the like required for the fibrous structure 1, and for example, a thickness of about 0.1 to 0.7 mm is used. The yarn 4 may be a monofilament or a multifilament.

The fibrous structure 1 constructed as described above can be used as a biologically inactive artificial bone even as it is, due to the material of the belt-shaped material 2. In addition, depending on the material, it is used after performing a suitable surface treatment as an implant material.

This embodiment has the following effects. (1) The fibrous structure 1 is formed by bending a band-shaped material 2 formed of cloth into a predetermined shape, and sewing the fibers to maintain the predetermined shape. Therefore, the strip-shaped raw material 2 formed in advance in a long length is cut into a length necessary for forming the fiber structure 1 according to the purpose of use, and is used. It can be easily manufactured as compared with the case.

(2) Since the band-shaped material 2 is spirally wound and formed into a predetermined shape, the desired shape can be easily formed by adjusting the bending position, the bending angle, and the winding force of the band-shaped material 2. be able to.

(3) Since the band-shaped material 2 is formed of a braid, the physical properties of the band-shaped material 2 are changed to fibers (yarns) constituting the braid.
And the degree of freedom of the shape when bending and shaping into a predetermined shape is increased.

(4) As the belt-shaped material 2, a braided braid (round braid) formed by flattening a braid is used. Therefore, the production of the braid is simpler than the flat braid, and the production cost of the fibrous structure 1 can be reduced.

(Second Embodiment) Next, a second embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. In the fibrous structure 1 of this embodiment, the band-shaped material 2 is arranged in a folded and laminated state instead of being wound in a spiral shape, and is shaped into a predetermined shape. The fiber structure 1 shown in FIG.
Is folded into a rectangular parallelepiped shape so that the folded width is constant, and the fibrous structure 1 of FIG. 3B is folded so that the folded width is partially different and shaped into a predetermined shape. I have. The yarns 3 for maintaining the shape are arranged only in one direction perpendicular to the surface of the belt-shaped material 2.

The production of the fibrous structure 1 is shown in FIGS.
As shown in (1), a plate (jig) 5 to which pins 6 for regulating the folding position of the band-shaped material 2 are fixed is used. Then, the band-shaped material 2 is folded by engaging with the pin 6 and bent a predetermined number of times. Thereafter, when the fiber structure 1 is detached from the pin 6, the fibrous structure 1 is completed.

This embodiment has the following effects in addition to the effects (1), (3) and (4) of the above embodiment. (5) By folding and laminating the band-shaped material 2 so that the folded width is partially different, it is possible to easily cope with not only a simple shape such as a cube or a rectangular parallelepiped but also a complicated shape including a slope or a curved surface.

(6) When manufacturing the fibrous structure 1, the bending position of the belt-shaped material 2 is determined by the pins 6, so that the accuracy of the shape of the fibrous structure 1 can be easily increased. (7) By changing the arrangement of the pins 6 fixed to the plate 5, the fiber structure 1 having a desired shape can be easily manufactured.

The embodiment is not limited to the above, and may be embodied as follows, for example. In the second embodiment, as shown in FIG. 5 (b), a band-shaped material 2 having a width that is regularly changed is used as the band-shaped material 2 and the fiber shown in FIG. 5 (a) is used. The structure 1 may be manufactured. The band-shaped material 2 in FIG. 5B has a configuration in which hexagonal portions of the same size are formed in a continuous shape, but the folded width is changed according to the shape of the fiber structure 1 to be manufactured. If there is, a hexagonal portion having a different size is formed into a continuous shape in accordance with the change of the folding width. The fiber structure 1 to be manufactured is not limited to a hexagonal shape.
The fibrous structure 1 may be manufactured from the strip-shaped material 2 having a shape in which a portion having another shape corresponding to the shape of the shape is continuous. Such a band-shaped material 2 can be formed by extending or contracting a part of the band-shaped material 2 having a constant width. In the fibrous structure 1, a fibrous structure 1 having a more complicated shape can be obtained as compared with the fibrous structures 1 of the above-described embodiments.

In the case of manufacturing the rectangular parallelepiped fibrous structure 1 having the same size by laminating the strip-shaped raw materials 2, as shown in FIG. 6B, the width of the strip-shaped raw material 2 is set to the length of the rectangular parallelepiped. It may be the same as L. This fibrous structure 1 has the same shape as the fibrous structure 1 shown in FIG. 3 (a), but the folded position of the strip-shaped material 2 is in the longitudinal direction of the rectangular parallelepiped (in FIG. 3 (a)) and in the width direction. (The one shown in FIG. 6B).
In this case, the strength of the fiber structure 1 in the thickness t direction increases.

As shown in FIG. 6A, the band-shaped material 2 may be arranged so as to cover the outer periphery of the folded portion. In this case, since the continuous uneven surface of the folded portion formed on both sides is covered with the belt-shaped material 2, the outer periphery becomes smooth.

As the braid of the band-shaped material 2, a braid (braided braid) formed by a flat striking braider is used instead of a braided braid (braided braid). Is also good. As shown in FIGS. 7 (a) and 7 (b), the flat braid is directly formed with a band-shaped material 2 having a substantially rectangular cross section. Also in this case, a two-axis configuration in which the orientation angle of the yarn 4 constituting the braid is ± θ and a three-axis configuration in which the orientation angle is 0 ° and ± θ are used.

を The assembly is described in, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2-259148.
, Or a three-dimensional blader disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2-307949. Unlike braided or flat-blade braids, braids formed by three-dimensional braiders can freely change the number of yarns arranged in the thickness direction of the braid, so the rigidity is reduced in the thickness direction. It can be adjusted by changing the number of arranged yarns. When a three-dimensional blader is used, it is easy to form the band-shaped material 2 whose width changes regularly as shown in FIG.

In the case where the fibrous structure 1 is formed by arranging the band-shaped materials 2 in a folded shape, the arrangement start position of the band-shaped materials 2 is not limited to the end of the fiber structure 1, and for example, the arrangement is started from the center. After the arrangement of the lower half is completed, the arrangement of the upper half may be performed.

Not only in the case of forming the fibrous structure 1 by arranging the band-shaped materials 2 in a folded shape, but also in the case of arranging the band-shaped materials 2 in a spiral shape as in the first embodiment, the bending position is determined by a pin. May be regulated. In this case, it becomes easy to shape into a desired shape.

The cloth constituting the belt-shaped material 2 is not limited to a braid, but may be, for example, a belt-shaped woven fabric or a belt-shaped knitted fabric woven by a tape loom. Further, a plain woven or twill woven ordinary woven fabric (fabric) may be cut into a band shape having a predetermined width. When the woven fabric is cut, the cut end is sharp, so it is preferable to round the end by a melting process. However, the braid has higher shaping properties when arranging the band-shaped materials 2 in a predetermined shape.

The fibrous structure 1 is not limited to an implant material, but may be used as a shock absorbing material for absorbing a shock. In this case, the material of the thread forming the belt-shaped material 2 is not limited to the organic fiber, but may be an inorganic fiber such as a carbon fiber and a ceramic fiber. Those made of inorganic fibers are suitable for applications requiring heat resistance. When high strength is required, carbon fibers are suitable, and organic fibers are lower in cost than inorganic fibers. Further, instead of forming the fiber structure 1 with one kind of fiber, the fiber structure 1 may be formed with a plurality of kinds of fibers.

The yarns 3 for maintaining the shape of the band-shaped material 2 formed into a predetermined shape do not necessarily have to be arranged over the entire fiber structure 1. May be minimized, such as by arranging only at the beginning and end of the array.

The inventions (technical ideas) other than those described in the claims which can be grasped from the embodiment will be described below together with their effects. (1) The implant material according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the band-shaped material is made of an organic fiber. In this case, the production of the implant material can be performed simply and at low cost.

[0039]

As described in detail above, the fibrous structure according to the first to fifth aspects of the present invention can be efficiently manufactured into a desired bulk. According to the method of the present invention, a desired bulk fiber structure can be efficiently produced.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective view of a fiber structure according to a first embodiment.

FIG. 2A is a schematic perspective view of a band-shaped material made of a biaxially rounded braid, and FIG. 2B is a schematic perspective view of a band-shaped material made of a triaxial rounded braid.

FIG. 3 is a schematic perspective view of a fiber structure according to a second embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a schematic perspective view of a jig used for arranging strip-shaped materials.

FIG. 5A is a schematic perspective view of a fiber structure according to another embodiment, and FIG. 5B is a partial schematic perspective view of a belt-shaped material used for the fiber structure.

FIG. 6 is a schematic perspective view of a fiber structure according to another embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a partial schematic perspective view of a belt-shaped material according to another embodiment.

FIG. 8 is a schematic perspective view showing the shape of an implant material.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Fiber structure, 2 ... Strip material, 3 ... Thread, 6 ... Pin.

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuing on the front page (72) Inventor Fujio Hori 2-1-1 Toyota-cho, Kariya-shi, Aichi F-term in Toyota Industries Corporation (Reference) 4L047 BA06 BD02 CA15

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. A fibrous structure formed by bending a band-shaped material formed of cloth, such as a woven fabric, a knitted fabric, or a braid, shaping the material into a predetermined shape, and sewn with a thread so as to maintain the predetermined shape. 2. The fibrous structure according to claim 1, wherein the band-shaped material is formed by flatly crushing a braided braided braid. 3. The fibrous structure according to claim 1, wherein the band-shaped material is arranged so as to be folded and laminated so that the folded width is partially different. 4. The fibrous structure according to claim 3, wherein the band-shaped material is formed such that its width changes regularly. 5. The fibrous structure according to claim 3, wherein the band-shaped material is continuously arranged so as to cover an outer periphery of the folded laminated portion. 6. A band-shaped material formed of cloth such as a woven fabric, a knitted fabric, or a braid is formed into a predetermined shape by determining a bending position using a pin, and then the band-shaped material is held to maintain a predetermined shape. A method for producing a fibrous structure, comprising a step of sewing a material lamination portion with a thread.