The impressive success of athletes at the Paralympics draws the attention to the substitution of missing limbs by artificial joints. Of course that question is not only important for top athletes but also for "normal people". Particularly for joints under difficult loading conditions like lower limbs or feet the use of composites is interesting. While in the beginning the idea was to construct a functional component like the classical wooden leg the devices now have to fulfill also cosmetical demands. The increasing knowledge about the specialities of the new FRP materials allows the construction of high end prothesses with both function and comfort for the amputee. The aim of this paper is the investigation of different types of foot prosheses and the development of an own model. The top criteria for the design is an increasing automation in manufacturing and therefore cost saving for a more widespread use. The biomechanical restrictions clarify the difficulties which both the engineer and orthopaedic specialist are confronted with. The foot prosthesis Aixact designed at the Institute of Polymer Processing (IKV) consists of two components (heel and forefoot part) and an integrated mechanism for adjustment of the spring stiffness.
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