ＣＦＲＴＰ製短下肢装具のダイヤフラム成形とその可撓性評価

抄録

Ankle Foot Orthosis (AFO) is widely prescribed for the purpose of assisting the gait of patients with spastic paralysis or flaccid paralysis. Carbon Fiber Reinforced Thermoplastics (CFRTP) using a thermoplastic resin as a matrix is expected to be used for AFO, since CFRTP-AFO can be adjusted after molding. Cost competitive CFRTP-AFO is expected to be developed by choosing a low-cost intermediate material and low cost molding method. Random prepreg sheets have been developed as an intermediate material of CFRTP which is excellent in formability and manufacturing cost. As a method of shaping intermediate material, there is diaphragm forming which is simple in equipment and excellent in mold cost. In this study, diaphragm forming and random carbon fiber reinforced polycarbonate prepreg sheets were applied to manufacture affordable CFRTP-AFO. The forming simulation of CFRTP-AFO by finite element analysis (FEM) was conducted to predict the formability. Young modulus of CFRTP prepreg sheets obtained by the tensile test at molding temperature was used for the FEM analysis.by obtaining the mechanical properties of CFRTP prepreg sheets at molding temperature. Wrinkle positions of CFRTP-AFO were qualitatively predicted by using FEM. The flexibility of CFRTP-AFO can be controlled by the number of laminated prepreg sheets which are used at the heel.