Weinvestigatehigh-modulusdegradablematerialsintendedtoreplacemetalsinbiomedicalapplications.Thesearetypicallycompositescomprisingapolylactide(PLA)matrixreinforcedwithphosphateglassfibres,whichprovidereinforcementsimilartoE-glassbutareentirelydegradableinwatertoproduce,principally,calciumphosphate.Wehavemadecompositesusingavarietyoffibrearchitectures,fromnon-wovenrandommatstounidirectionalfibretapes.Flexuralpropertiesintheregionof30GPamodulusand350MPastrengthhavebeenachieved-directlycomparabletoquotedvaluesforhumancorticalbone.Incollaborationwithothergroupswehavebeguntoconsiderthedevelopmentoffoamedsystemswithstructuresmimickingcancellousboneandthishasshownsignificantpromise.Thefibresinthesefoamedstructuresprovideimprovedcreepresistanceandreinforcementoftheporewalls.Todatethematerialshaveexhibitedexcellentcellularresponsesinvitroandfurtherstudiesareduetoincludeconsiderationofthesurfacecharacterofthematerialsandtheinfluenceofthisoncellinteraction,bothwiththecompositesandtheglassfibresthemselves,whichshowpromiseasastandaloneporousscaffold.
