Technical textiles are one of the fastest growing sectors of the global textile industry, especially in the medical application which is considered as one of the most important applications of technical textiles. Plaster (gypsum) and plastics casts are widely used nowadays in hospitals, pharmacies and health care centers. But they are heavy, not washable, do not offer a suitable fixation for bone fractures (e.g. hand wrist) and always in individually sizes. After decrease of swelling, the cast is in a hard form and the stabilization effect of the cast is insufficient due to the occurring of distance between the skin and the cast. In this work, a new pneumatic cast is developed, that depends on a coated fabric as an outer layer, skin friendly fabrics as internal layers, air chamber and metal braces. For more comfort, the cast is anatomically formed and includes four internal layers of cotton/viscose fabric and polyester spacer fabric. The new developed cast controls the pressure on the injured part by using a pneumatic system. In a comparison with plaster and plastic casts that are heavy, not washable, provide an insufficient fixation after swelling decrease and always in individually sizes; the new developed pneumatic cast is light weight, easy to use, washable, mass-produced and offer the required fixation to the injured part during swelling conditions.

Technical textiles are one of the fastest growing sectors of the global textile industry, especially in the medical application which is considered as one of the most important applications of technical textiles. Plaster (gypsum) and plastics casts are widely used nowadays in hospitals, pharmacies and health care centers. But they are heavy, not washable, do not offer a suitable fixation for bone fractures (e.g. hand wrist) and always in individually sizes. After decrease of swelling, the cast is in a hard form and the stabilization effect of the cast is insufficient due to the occurring of distance between the skin and the cast. In this work, a new pneumatic cast is developed, that depends on a coated fabric as an outer layer, skin friendly fabrics as internal layers, air chamber and metal braces. For more comfort, the cast is anatomically formed and includes four internal layers of cotton/viscose fabric and polyester spacer fabric. The new developed cast controls the pressure on the injured part by using a pneumatic system. In a comparison with plaster and plastic casts that are heavy, not washable, provide an insufficient fixation after swelling decrease and always in individually sizes; the new developed pneumatic cast is light weight, easy to use, washable, mass-produced and offer the required fixation to the injured part during swelling conditions.

Traumatic rupture of the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) can cause local destabilization and loss of mobility. Reconstruction using engineered ACL grafts is rarely successful due to sub-optimal material choice and mechanical performance. Thus, the presented work demonstrates the fabrication of various embroidered single- and bi-component scaffolds made of two commercially available monofilament threads (polydioxanone, poly(lactic acid-co-ɛ- caprolactone)) as well as a novel melt spun poly(L-lactic acid) multifilament and their mechanical analysis by tensile tests and under cyclic loading. Selected scaffolds, adjusted by material composition and textile parameters, revealed a load–strain behavior comparable to native lapin ACL tissue exhibiting a sufficient amount of elastic deformation within the toe-region of 1.7%, scaffold stiffness of 123 N/mm and adequate maximum tensile load (300 N) and strain (20%). Therefore, the design of resorbable embroidered bi-component scaffolds represents a promising approach to replace artificial non-resorbable ligament grafts and allows for innovative tissue engineering strategies.

To prevent the renewed rupture of ligaments and tendons prior to the completed healing process, which frequently occurs in treated ruptured tendons, a temporary support structure is envisaged. The limitations of current grafts have motivated the investigation of tissue-engineered ligament replacements based on the braiding technology. This technology offers a wide range of flexibility and adjustable geometrical and structural parameters. The presented work demonstrates the possible range for tailoring the mechanical properties of polyester braids and a variation of the braiding process parameters. A finite element simulation model of the braiding process was developed, which allows the optimization of production parameters without the performance of further experimental trials. In a second modelling and simulation step, mechanical properties of the braided structures were virtually determined and compared with actual tests. The digital element approach was used for the yarns in the numerical model. The results show very good agreement for the process model in terms of braiding angles and good agreement for the structural model in terms of force-strain behaviour. With a few adaptions, the models can, thus, be applied to actual ligament replacements made of resorbable polymers.