The Impact of Laminations on the Mechanical Strength of Carbon-Fiber Composites for Prosthetic Foot Fabrication
Bakhtawar Sehar, Asim Waris, Syed Omer Gilani, Umar Ansari, Shafaq Mushtaq, Niaz Bahadur Khan, Mohammed Jameel, M. Ijaz Khan, Omar T. Bafakeeh, Sayed M. Eldin
Abstract
Carbon-fiber composites are considered to be one of the suitable materials for the fabrication of prosthetic feet. However, commercially available composites-based prosthetic foot designs present several problems for lower limb amputees, such as low tensile strength, reduced impact resistance, high cost, and weight structure. Modulating the mechanical properties of carbon-fiber composites using a simplified method can help reduce these issues. Therefore, our present research aims to identify the impact of increasing the concentration of carbon fiber in the fabrication of carbon-fiber composites by using the hand layup method without the vacuum bagging technique. To improve the mechanical strength of carbon-fiber laminates, an increasing number of carbon-fiber layers are used in sample preparation. This study aims to determine the tensile strength of the laminates with a different number of carbon-fiber laminations. For the preparation of the sample specimen, black 100% 3 K 200 gsm carbon fiber with a cloth thickness of 0.2 mm and tensile strength of 4380 Mpa was laminated with two parts of epoxy resin Araldite® LY556 and Aradur hardener at a ratio of 100:30 to make the test specimen. The results indicated an overall improvement in the tensile strength of carbon-fiber laminates owing to the increase in the number of carbon-fiber layers in successive samples. The maximum achieved tensile strength through the present experimental protocol is 576.079 N/mm2, depicted by a prepared specimen of 10 layers of carbon fiber. Secondly, an increase in the deformation rate has also been observed by increasing the loading rate from 2 mm/min to 5 mm/min during the tensile testing of fabricated samples. These sample carbon-fiber composites can be used in the fabrication of prosthetic feet by controlling the experimental conditions. The fabricated prosthetic foot will assist in rehabilitating lower-limb amputees.