With people’s attention to health and the continuous development of modern medical science and technology, the demand for large-scale high-performance diagnostic and treatment equipment has been increasing day by day in recent years. In particular, radiological diagnosis and treatment equipment are moving towards minimizing radiation dose and digitizing imaging analysis. direction of development. These medical equipment, in the X-ray radiation path, require related accessories to have good X-ray transmittance performance, so that the radiation dose and energy efficiency can meet the premise of use, so as to minimize the radiation harm to patients and medical staff. Therefore, as the cost of carbon fiber composite materials originally used in aviation and aerospace decreases, they are increasingly used in the field of radiation medical equipment.
Although carbon fiber composite materials have been used in radiation medical equipment at home and abroad for several years, there are few studies and reports on their medical functions. Dongguan One Victor Composite Technology Co. has become a leader in the development of carbon fiber composite medical accessories for many international medical equipment manufacturers. At the same time, it was also discovered that the designers of some equipment manufacturers did not know enough about the basic properties of carbon fiber composite materials, so the designed carbon fiber composite material accessories Sometimes problems arise. This article mainly explains the basic characteristics and applications of carbon fiber composite materials used in radiological medical equipment.
1. Excellent mechanical properties: the strength of the material, the ratio of modulus to density - specific strength and specific modulus are indicators of the material's load-bearing capacity. It can be used in medical equipment for accessories that require good rigidity and light weight. The specific strength and specific modulus of T700 carbon fiber composite materials are much higher than ordinary metal materials and fiberglass materials. It has obvious mechanical performance advantages when used in medical equipment.
2. Anisotropy and designability: Some parts of medical equipment need to have very little deflection after being loaded in a certain direction and have high rigidity. Carbon fiber reinforced resin composite materials have a tendency to deflect along the fiber axis and perpendicular to the fiber axis to the right. Obvious performance difference. The anisotropy of materials brings greater freedom to design.
3. Good anti-fatigue properties: In medical equipment, especially large-scale equipment such as X-ray machines and CT machines, there are bed panels that carry patients and see through the gods. Due to the large volume of patient diagnosis and treatment, the fatigue performance of the bed panels is relatively high. high. Carbon fiber composite materials solve this problem very well. There are countless fiber/resin interfaces in carbon fiber reinforced resin composite materials. These interfaces can prevent further crack expansion, thereby delaying the occurrence of fatigue damage. During use, even if a small number of fibers are broken due to overload, the load will be quickly redistributed to the undamaged fibers, so that the entire component will not lose its load-bearing capacity in a short time.
4. Carbon fiber reinforced resin composite materials have excellent X-ray transmission properties. The degree of intensity attenuation or absorption of X-rays after penetrating a material is related to the composition, atomic number, density and thickness of the material. For X-rays with a certain wavelength and a certain power and a material with a certain thickness, the transmittance is a certain value. For carbon fiber composite materials, the elemental composition of resin is C, H, O, and the elemental composition of carbon fiber is C. The X-ray mass absorption coefficient is very small, much lower than that of ordinary materials.
5. Good molding process: Carbon fiber composite materials for medical equipment are basically carbon fiber reinforced epoxy resin composite materials. Prepregs composed of uncured resin (including curing agent) and reinforcing fibers are laid out into laminated pre-pregs according to design requirements. Dip parts are formed through a curing reaction under a certain temperature and pressure.
Abroad, led by the three major manufacturers: General Motors, Siemens, and Philips, the first is the X-ray machine. Due to the development of the direct digital X-ray photography system, its working principle is to directly convert X-ray photons into digital images through the electronic cassette, which affects the radiation path. The manufacturer's accessories requirements are relatively high, requiring the patient bed panel to have high X-ray transmittance and low loss; therefore, it has originally used plywood and density board, transitioned to phenolic resin board, plexiglass board, and up to the current carbon fiber Composite material bed board, the improvement of the overall performance of the equipment has led to the continuous improvement of the performance requirements for bed board materials.
We believe that the application of carbon fiber composite materials in medical equipment has become a very important market application in the field of carbon fiber composite materials. The reduction in the cost of carbon fiber composite materials will greatly promote its application in medical equipment. One Victor Composite will also continue to explore new applications of carbon fiber in the medical industry.