Design and Additive Manufacturing of Lower Limb Prosthetic Socket

Abstract

Additive Manufacturing (AM) is not only an innovative approach of fabrication but it fosters a new paradigm to design products. The possibility to confer inhomogeneous properties to the product provides an important design key. This paper concerns the design and manufacture of medical devices that require a high level of customization. We focus the attention on lower limb prosthesis and in particular on the prosthetic socket. The proposed method is centered on the virtual modeling of patient’s residual limb and the virtual process is highly integrated and the data flow is as fluid as possible. Three main phases can be identified: design, validation and manufacture of the socket. Firstly, the technician uses the Socket Modeling Assistant (SMA) tool to design the socket shape. Then, a numerical simulation is run to check pressure distribution and validate the socket shape. Finally, a multi-material 3D printer is used to build the socket. Preliminary results are presented and conclusions are drawn concerning the challenge of multi-material 3D printing of the socket.

Advances in Orthotic and Prosthetic Manufacturing: A Technology Review

“…In an RPT manufacturing process, a representative virtual 3D CAD model is formed layer upon layer to form a physical object [9]. In RPT, a virtual model of the part is designed through CAD and is converted to a STL file format, which is the default standard file format for RP systems [64,65]. AMT can be categorized in different ways depending on the nature of the fabrication process, such as laser, printer technology, and extrusion technology [7].…”

Pioneering low-cost 3D-printed transtibial prosthetics to serve a rural population in Sierra Leone – an observational cohort study

“…However, there are no standards for testing the prosthetic socket, because this part is custom made. Nevertheless, multiple studies have used these guidelines for testing FDM-printed prosthetic sockets, making this testing method a logical choice to test the prothesis [18,24,53,54]. In recent years, potentially suitable FDM print materials became available with increased layer-on-layer adhesion.…”

An Overview of Additive Manufacturing of Polymers and Associated Composites

“…As the AM technology matures, we can fabricate and replace human organs using patients’ own cells that would minimize tissue rejection. Researchers have been able to fabricate prosthetics using AM processes [ 254 , 255 , 256 ]. AM processes enable to fabricate prosthetics to match the patient’s body structure.…”