Absorptive protective padding with electrospinned polyester fibers with hydrogel matrix

Abstract

Hip fractures has been prevalent especially among aged elderly. This can lead to permanent disability of the elderly as they are wheel-chaired bound after suffering from hip fractures. In this work, we explore the design of a protective hip pad which encapsulate the hydrogel and fibres composite in a laminated sheet. The hydrogel was fabricated using Polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) with distilled water. Two types of electrospinned fibres, Nylon-6 fibres and polyester fibres were used as filler. The fabrication of hydrogel matrix composite was varied by the weight percent of nylon 6,6 pellets dissolving in formic acid as compared to Hydrolysed Poly(Vinyl alcohol) to form crosslinked PVA with water. The impact absorption concept was to allow the gel-like hydrogel to flow through the fibres pores and during this process, part of the energy would be dissipated in the matrix composite. This lower the impact force being transferred to the user’s hip and prevent the facture of the elderly’s hips during fall. The protective padding with 20 layers of polyester fibres with 2.5wt % of PVA had the lowest impact force of 0.8 kN as compared to conventional protective padding with measured 1.07kN impact force for impact study.