A Virtual Design Process to Produce Scoliosis Braces by Additive Manufacturing

Abstract

The present work aims to present the current virtual design process of scoliosis braces and propose an improvement by considering the internal geometry. Starting from the external scanning it is possible to apply only corrections that do not consider the interaction with the human body. For this reason we propose to embed the 3D model reconstruction of the skeleton of the patient from the medical images. This would bring to a better virtual design process that could help avoiding the current need for a physical positive mold. The final goal of such a change is to pass from the current thermoforming production to the use of additive manufacturing. In the paper, we briefly analyze the choice of the most convenient 3D printing technology and the selection of a proper material that can be comparable to the ones used for thermoforming. Finally, a case study is presented to test the assumptions regarding both the design and manufacturing processes.