Host: The Japan Society of Mechanical Engineers
Name : [in Japanese]
Date : November 16, 2018
Currently, metallic struts are used in a foot orthosis for medical treatment. They are heavy and burdens for paralysis patients. Thus, carbon fiber reinforced plastics (CFRP) attracts attention recently, because CFRP has excellent specific strength and fatigue resistance. However, the usage of CFRP is still limited, since CFRP has lower compressive strength than metal. To evaluate the possibility of replacing metal with CFRP, an foot orthosis with L-shaped strut made of CFRP having the same mechanical characteristics as general foot orthosis with metal strut was investigated. In this paper, the reproducibility of appropriate rigidity for CFRP specimens with three different thicknesses was investigated. Compression load was applied to specimens using a universal testing machine, and the resultant moment and the deformation angle at the ankle joint were measured. The measurement angle ranged 0° to 15°. As a result, it was confirmed that three type of specimens have similar stiffness. It is possible to prepare specimens having arbitrary rigidity regardless of the thickness.
