http://www.newscientisttech.com/article.ns?id=dn11471&feedId=online-news_rss20
Soft splint instantly heat-welds to hold broken limbs
* 14:57 27 March 2007
* NewScientist.com news service
* Tom Simonite
A portable plastic splint that heat-welds itself around broken limbs
is being developed to aid skiers and others who take part in extreme sports.
To apply the splint, strips of tough but flexible plastic bandage are
wrapped tightly around a broken limb and attached to one another
using Velcro. Once the strips have been applied, a solution of sodium
citrate gel is poured onto the splint.
This triggers a chemical reaction with metal strips embedded in the
bandage, which the makes the solution rapidly crystallise to form a
solid. The same process generates heat, providing warmth to the injured limb.
"This is the same reaction that is used in hand warmers," explains
Paul Chamberlain, an industrial designer at Sheffield Hallam
University in the UK. "It sets hard in around 5 minutes and
heat-welds the plastic bandages together."
Snow sports
The splint was designed by two of Chamberlain's students, Ching-Sui
Kao and Geremi Durand, and Maxime Ducloux from the Institut Superieur
de Plasturgie d'Alencon (ISPA) in Alencon, France. Prototypes are
currently in production at ISPA.
The splint is primarily targeted at those who take part in snow
sports, Chamberlain told New Scientist. Around 450,000 people are
injured each year, he says, most of whom suffer broken bones.
"Rescuers can usually reach these people, but providing warmth and
support quickly is important, particularly if there is a long wait," he says.
The splint can be easily carried by skiers or snowboarders in a
rucksack and, in the event of an accident, as many strips as needed
can be used to cover and protect an injury. After rescue, the splint
can be cut away by doctors.
Earlier in March, the splint won the Grand Prize at the Design and
Innovation in Plasturgy competition, which is sponsored by the French
plastic industry.
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