Performance of Athletic Prosthetic Feet Made of Various Composite Materials with PMMA Matrix: Numerical and Theoretical Study
Hayder Kareem Talla, Jawad K. Oleiwi, Abdul Kareem F. Hassan
Abstract
Prosthetic upgrades are specialized prosthetics that enable patients to participate in more demanding recreational activities, such as running. This study examines the use of prosthetic limbs, specifically the athletic prosthetic foot. The current research focused on the manufacturing and production properties of an samples athletic prosthetic Foot made from composite materials based on a polymethyl methacrylate resin (PMMA) reinforced with various fibers (UHMWPE, Perlon, Carbon fiber, and Glass fiber). The finite element method (ANSYS-19R) is used to build an athletic prosthetic model and apply boundary conditions to investigate the influence of deformation and stored energy on the performance of the sports prosthetic foot. Six laminates have been manufactured, and it has been discovered that adding a number of carbon fiber layers to UHMWPE has a better effect on deformation than adding a glass fiber 26% improvement. Furthermore, the findings show there is an improvement in performance when the number of classes was doubled, as the rate of improvement between the laminate to which carbon fibers were added was 31%, and between the laminate to which glass fibers were added by 32% under the same boundary conditions.