The Impact of Laminations on the Mechanical Strength of Carbon-Fiber Composites for Prosthetic Foot Fabrication

Abstract

Carbon-fiber composites are considered to be one of the suitable materials for the fabrication of prosthetic feet. However, commercially available composites-based prosthetic foot designs present several problems for lower limb amputees, such as low tensile strength, reduced impact resistance, high cost, and weight structure. Modulating the mechanical properties of carbon-fiber composites using a simplified method can help reduce these issues. Therefore, our present research aims to identify the impact of increasing the concentration of carbon fiber in the fabrication of carbon-fiber composites by using the hand layup method without the vacuum bagging technique. To improve the mechanical strength of carbon-fiber laminates, an increasing number of carbon-fiber layers are used in sample preparation. This study aims to determine the tensile strength of the laminates with a different number of carbon-fiber laminations. For the preparation of the sample specimen, black 100% 3 K 200 gsm carbon fiber with a cloth thickness of 0.2 mm and tensile strength of 4380 Mpa was laminated with two parts of epoxy resin Araldite® LY556 and Aradur hardener at a ratio of 100:30 to make the test specimen. The results indicated an overall improvement in the tensile strength of carbon-fiber laminates owing to the increase in the number of carbon-fiber layers in successive samples. The maximum achieved tensile strength through the present experimental protocol is 576.079 N/mm2, depicted by a prepared specimen of 10 layers of carbon fiber. Secondly, an increase in the deformation rate has also been observed by increasing the loading rate from 2 mm/min to 5 mm/min during the tensile testing of fabricated samples. These sample carbon-fiber composites can be used in the fabrication of prosthetic feet by controlling the experimental conditions. The fabricated prosthetic foot will assist in rehabilitating lower-limb amputees.