Rigid Composite Textile

Abstract

The invention relates to a high-strength composite suture. More specifically, the high-strength composite suture comprises an integrated monofilament into the textile to provide for improved structural support when forming new shapes from one or more portions of the composite textile. The composite textile comprises a multifilament suture including UHWMPE material, and a monofilament strand that includes synthetic polymers such as Nylon and Polypropylene.

I/We claim: 
     
         1 . A method of making a rigid composite textile comprises the steps of:
 Forming a textile that comprises a monofilament suture;   Selecting one or more regions of interest (ROI) of the monofilament to identify a first monofilament portion and a second monofilament portion;   Extracting the first portion of the monofilament suture from the textile within the selected one or more ROIs; and   Creating desired structure containing the second portion of the monofilament suture.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the step of forming a textile that comprises the monofilament suture includes co-braiding the monofilament into the textile. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the step of extracting the first monofilament portion of the monofilament suture comprises the step of trimming the first monofilament portion of the monofilament suture. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the step of creating the desired structure comprises forming a suture loop that contains the second monofilament portion of the monofilament suture. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the suture loop comprises a loop size and a hoop strength, the loop size is fixed. 
     
     
         6 . The method of making a rigid composite textile comprises the steps of:
 Creating a textile that comprises a monofilament;   Identifying a first portion of the monofilament at a first location and a second portion of the monofilament at a second location;   Extracting the first portion of the monofilament from the textile at the first location; and   Forming a desired shape with the second portion of the monofilament at the second location.   
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 6 , wherein the method further comprises the step of securing the desired shape with the second portion of the monofilament. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 6 , wherein the securing of the desired shape comprises a locking splice. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 6 , wherein the securing of the desired shape comprises a locking splice and a standard splice. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 6 , wherein the step of creating the textile comprises the step of interconnecting a first strand having a first strand material and a first strand orientation and a second strand having a second strand material to create a weave pattern, at least a portion of the first strand comprising a monofilament, the first strand material comprising Nylon or Polypropylene. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 10 , wherein the weave pattern comprises a woven pattern, a braid pattern or a knitted pattern. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 6 , wherein the step of creating the textile comprises the step of interconnecting a first strand having a first strand material and a first strand orientation, a second strand having a second strand material, and a third strand having a third strand material and a third strand orientation, to create the textile with a weave pattern, the third strand comprising a monofilament, the third strand material comprising Nylon or Polypropylene. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 12 , wherein the weave pattern comprises a braided weave pattern. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 12 , wherein the third strand orientation comprises an axial orientation, a vertical orientation or a warp orientation. 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 6 , wherein the textile comprises a suture. 
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 15 , wherein the second location of the second portion of the monofilament is positioned between a first free end of the suture and a second free end of the suture. 
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 15 , wherein the second location of the second portion of the monofilament is positioned at a second free end of the suture. 
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 15 , wherein the method of forming the desired shape comprises a shuttle loop, the shuttle loop having a shuttle loop hoop strength and a shuttle loop size. 
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 18 , wherein the shuttle loop size is fixed. 
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 12 , wherein the first strand material and the second strand material comprise UHMWPE.