A Study for the development of prosthetic foot by additive manufacturing

摘要

The natural foot is one of the most advanced components of the human leg that contributes to an effective gait. Since the human foot contains so many bones, joints, muscles, and other systems that allow for human motion, its anatomy is highly intricate. The human foot's flexibility and capacity for storing energy enable a wide range of motion, help with propulsion, and provide strength to transfer the burden to the ground throughout all activities. Making a prosthetic foot that can closely resemble the features of a human foot is difficult. The objective of this research was to develop an inexpensive prosthetic foot that was robust enough to carry out a variety of tasks while being lightweight, flexible, and energy-capable. The artificial foot was developed in line with ISO 10328 P5 category requirements. The prosthetic foot's material of choice was Nylon PA 12. Several foot iterations were first constructed, analysed, and a matrix was made to help choose the optimal foot design iteration. The optimal design iteration was achieved by inducing additional lattice structures. There have been created several lattice structures with various cell sizes, wall thicknesses, lattice types, and lattice shapes. Each lattice construction's foot was analysed, and the results were used to decide the best one. Multi jet fusion was studied as a possible manufacturing technique for a prosthetic foot. The cost of making the foot by MJF was less than the market pricing. In each of the three conditions-heel strike, mid-stance, and toe off-the foot passed the static proof testing, which was done according to with ISO 10328 requirements.