Carbon fibre running prosthesis

Composite materials are engineering materials with high added value.

Made of reinforcement fibres and resin, their main advantage is a low specific weight with high strength and stiffness, which is why they are used in various applications: aeronautics, satellite manufacturing, shipping industries, automotive industry, infrastructures, wind energy sector, sports, equipment, luxury goods... As part of Tknika's "Composite Materials" project, one of the sections of this project has been simulation, manufacture and validation of a carbon prosthetic leg for running. Before starting to manufacture the carbon prosthetic leg, simulations have been carried out using finite elements, with specific software, which has made it possible to define the configuration of the number of layers and the orientation of the carbon fibres to be defined.

For the manufacture of the prosthesis, low temperature pre-preg carbon has been used, laminating the part on a mould made by 3D printing. Although the fabricated leg has been tested on a prosthesis adapted to a real patient, rather than obtaining the composite product, the main objective of the project has been to instruct vocational teachers in simulation and composite manufacturing processes.

Teachers from UGLE Eskola, CIFP Bidasoa FP-II, CIFP Don Bosco FP-II and Tknika took part in the project.