Papers by Keyword: Prosthetic Socket

Abstract: Composites of natural fiber-reinforced thermoplastic and thermoset polymers have been studied for developing prosthetic socket materials. This study investigated the abaca fiber (AF)/carbon fiber (CF)/epoxy (EP) hybrid composite properties: i.e., tensile, flexural, impact, thermal, and water absorption, by varying AF and CF ratios of 1: 0, 0: 1, 2: 1, 3: 1, and 4: 1 with 80 vol% epoxy resin. The cracks formed in bending test specimens were characterized with an optical microscope, whereas the tensile fracture surface was characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The results confirmed that the mechanical properties of the CF/EP composite are the highest. The higher the AF/CF ratio, the lower the hybrid composite's mechanical properties and the higher the water absorption. The hybrid composite with a 2:1 AF/CF ratio achieved the highest tensile and flexural strengths of 70 MPa and 103 MPa, respectively, and the lowest water absorption of 7.89%. Based on the experimental results, a simulation of the prosthetic socket was performed using Autodesk Inventor 2019 integrated with ANSYS Workbench 2019 R1, resulting in von Mises stress of 2.14 MPa and deformation of 0.015 mm. Besides, its thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA) resulted in good thermal stability.

Abstract: Prosthetic socket is the device that link artificial limb with the amputee part. This work has been done on seven laminated composite were prepared by vacuum technique from Polyester resin reinforced with (Jute, Carbon, Glass, Perlon) fibers. The interaction between fibers and matrix material was studied using Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy. DSC test also had been studied for different laminated composite materials to make prosthetic socket. The infrared spectra result of the Polyester composite specimens with natural and synthetic fibers indicate that no additional new peak was observed. While DSC results showed the increase in the glass transition temperature (Tg) as the number of Jute layers increased and this may be related to the nature of Jute fibers. As well as Carbon lead to increase Tg but Glass fiber decreased Tg when added to natural fiber (Jute fiber). The composite specimen reinforced with three layers of Jute fibers plus four layers of Carbon fibers (3 Jute + 4 Carbon) had the highest Tg (107°C).

Abstract: In general, the lower prosthesis consists of socket, leg, ankle, and foot. The socket is the crucial part for connecting the remaining part of the limb and the prosthesis, as it is essential to distribute the load to the amputation patient to provide comfort and add to the proper appearance of the amputation patient. A research that was included methods of manufacturing it, choosing the composite materials necessary for the design, higher durability, lighter weight, and less cost. Previous research used polymer composites reinforced with fibers as glass fibers, carbon fiber, and Kevlar. Other researchers have studied natural fibers' use as reinforcement fiber by mixing resin materials or adding nanomaterials to modify the mechanical properties and reduce costs. After calculating performing the required mechanical tests such as tensile, fatigue, and impact testing, the required properties of the composite material are found, where the prosthesis socket is manufactured below the knee with the application of different loads of the socket. A review of socket models used in developing countries was performed with regard to design, modeling, and finite element analysis (FEA). This review aims to study the material's behavior and mechanical properties by using natural fibers for manufacturing prosthetic sockets. The review discusses the socket manufacture methods proposed to develop the socket industry based on natural fibers to reduce the hot and humid environment using Kenaf and other natural fibers.

Abstract: A prosthetic replaces any missing human body part visibly and also aims to resume the normal functionality of the part. Reverse engineering extracts information from a present model or available design and develops a new model using advanced CAD tools. Nowadays the reverse engineered part can be combined with rapid prototyping by various software and integration of CAD-CAM platforms. In this paper, a new method to reverse engineer the residual limb information for lower limb amputees, in order to use it for analyzing and developing a prosthetic socket by scanning and developing a CAD model is proposed. Along this are discussed, the advantages and challenges. This work falls in the emerging field of interdisciplinary engineering, combining medical and advanced mechanical engineering on a humanitarian platform

Abstract: Nowadays, there are two socket fabrication methods in Thailand, which are resin casting and thermal vacuum method. The thermal vacuum forming method has more advantages than the resin casting method that ruins technicians' health from the volatile matter. Nevertheless, the thermal vacuum forming method can fabricate the socket with poor wall thickness distribution. The purpose of this paper is to study the effects of the feed rate of stump mould and the temperature distribution of the plastic sheet on the prosthetic socket wall thickness during the thermal vacuum forming process. The feed rates of stump mould were varied by using an industrial robot. The temperature distribution of the plastic sheet was controlled by circular and annular fiberglass insulators placed in its center. The results showed that the prosthetic socket wall thickness increases around the central area of the socket with a decreased feed rate of stump mould. The annular insulator increases the wall thickness slightly, while the circular insulator increases the thickness significantly. The wall thickness at the thinnest location increased from 1.6 mm up to 2.8 mm. In addition, wall thicknesses of areas beneath the circular insulator increased significantly between the marked positions-25 through +25.

Abstract: This study aims to employ the technology of rapid prototyping for the development of a process that is to assist a prosthetist for easily designing and manufacturing a prosthetic socket for specific transtibial amputee. Currently, the production of prosthetic socket still depends on prosthetists’ skills and expertise. To improve its tedious process, quality uncertainty, and lack of experienced prosthetists, the benefits of using rapid prototyping (RP) technology together with computer-aided systems will be expecting goals. This article demonstrated the feasibility of producing RP sockets using a fused deposition modeling (FDM) machine, and a prototype system that allows a prosthetist to easily design prosthetic sockets has been developed. This proposed computer-aided engineering process, which is plaster-free method, is expected to replace the manual process of conventional approach of fabricating prosthetic sockets. Furthermore, since thin-layer RP socket is easily broken, coating a resin layer on RP socket to enforce its strength is underway.