Influence of Textile Structure on Longitudinal Ruptures' Localization of the Vascular Prostheses

Abstract

The prosthetic explants collection in PET knitted prosthesis enabled us to count a great number of longitudinal ruptures close to the looping wale. Previous studies showed modifications of the polymer organization after a stay in the human body. To supplement these studies, we undertook circumferential traction tests, which partly simulated the action of a pressure in the prosthesis. As the localization of a rupture is often caused by a localization of the constraints, we used a video camera to make films of the knitting structure in order to highlight the behavior of a mechanical heterogeneity. This device also allowed us to define a global coefficient related to the deformability of the textile structure. The overall results showed that for similar prostheses, a structural heterogeneity existed. It then generated various behaviors which were constraint sources and thus of ruptures by mechanical fatigue. Therefore, our approach highlighted the possibility of an early study of the rupture zones' localization. For that study, the investigation methods require improvement. However, the heterogeneity of the mechanical behavior was not able to explain the entire ageing phenomenon. For example, the guide-line ruptures are not yet well understood.