Manufacture of Passive Dynamic ankle-foot orthoses using selective laser sintering.

@article{citeulike:2758754, abstract = {Ankle-foot orthosis (AFO) designs vary in size, shape, and functional characteristics depending on the desired clinical application. Passive Dynamic (PD) Response ankle-foot orthoses (PD-AFOs) constitute a design that seeks to improve walking ability for persons with various neuromuscular disorders by passively (like a spring) providing variable levels of support during the stance phase of gait. Current PD-AFO manufacturing technology is either labor intensive or not well suited for the detailed refinement of PD-AFO bending stiffness characteristics. The primary objective of this study was to explore the feasibility of using a rapid freeform prototyping technique, selective laser sintering (SLS), as a PD-AFO manufacturing process. Feasibility was determined by replicating the shape and functional characteristics of a carbon fiber AFO (CF-AFO). The study showed that a SLS-based framework is ideally suited for this application. A second objective was to determine the optimal SLS material for PD-AFOs to store and release elastic energy; considering minimizing energy dissipation through internal friction is a desired material characteristic. This study compared the mechanical damping of the CF-AFO to PD-AFOs manufactured by SLS using three different materials. Mechanical damping evaluation ranked the materials as Rilsan D80 (best), followed by DuraForm PA and DuraForm GF. In addition, Rilsan D80 was the only SLS material able to withstand large deformations.}, address = {Department of Mechanical Engineering, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas 78712-0292, USA. faustini@alumni.utexas.net}, author = {Faustini, M. C. and Neptune, R. R. and Crawford, R. H. and Stanhope, S. J. }, citeulike-article-id = {2758754}, doi = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1109/TBME.2007.912638}, issn = {0018-9294}, journal = {IEEE transactions on bio-medical engineering}, keywords = {afo}, month = {February}, number = {2}, pages = {784--790}, posted-at = {2008-05-05 19:34:10}, priority = {0}, title = {Manufacture of Passive Dynamic ankle-foot orthoses using selective laser sintering.}, url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1109/TBME.2007.912638}, volume = {55}, year = {2008} }

TY - JOUR ID - citeulike:2758754 L3 - citeulike-article-id:2758754 TI - Manufacture of Passive Dynamic ankle-foot orthoses using selective laser sintering. JF - IEEE transactions on bio-medical engineering VL - 55 IS - 2 SP - 784 EP - 790 AD - Department of Mechanical Engineering, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas 78712-0292, USA. faustini@alumni.utexas.net SN - 0018-9294 N2 - Ankle-foot orthosis (AFO) designs vary in size, shape, and functional characteristics depending on the desired clinical application. Passive Dynamic (PD) Response ankle-foot orthoses (PD-AFOs) constitute a design that seeks to improve walking ability for persons with various neuromuscular disorders by passively (like a spring) providing variable levels of support during the stance phase of gait. Current PD-AFO manufacturing technology is either labor intensive or not well suited for the detailed refinement of PD-AFO bending stiffness characteristics. The primary objective of this study was to explore the feasibility of using a rapid freeform prototyping technique, selective laser sintering (SLS), as a PD-AFO manufacturing process. Feasibility was determined by replicating the shape and functional characteristics of a carbon fiber AFO (CF-AFO). The study showed that a SLS-based framework is ideally suited for this application. A second objective was to determine the optimal SLS material for PD-AFOs to store and release elastic energy; considering minimizing energy dissipation through internal friction is a desired material characteristic. This study compared the mechanical damping of the CF-AFO to PD-AFOs manufactured by SLS using three different materials. Mechanical damping evaluation ranked the materials as Rilsan D80 (best), followed by DuraForm PA and DuraForm GF. In addition, Rilsan D80 was the only SLS material able to withstand large deformations. KW - afo AU - Faustini, MC AU - Neptune, RR AU - Crawford, RH AU - Stanhope, SJ PY - 2008/02// UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1109/TBME.2007.912638 ER -