An Investigation to the Effects of Impact Strength on Laminated Notched Composites used in Prosthetic Sockets Manufacturing

Abstract

The sockets used in prostheses manufacturing are normally made from materials of high strength/weight ratio for durability and comfort wearing purposes. The sockets may be subjected to impact loading and cause a fracture due to this loading if the material has a low toughness energy. Therefore, the current work is directed to investigate experimentally the determination of impact energy and the toughness of different types of fibers and resins to assess their effectiveness in sustaining the impact loading. Samples were prepared according to the ASTM standard using the fiberglass, Kevlar and carbon fibers with three types of resins araldite, polyester and Orthocryl lamination resin 80:20 with 2-3% hardener. All types of fibers are mat types and 12 layers were manufactured with thickness approximately 4 mm. The layers of the samples were arranged (4 perlon+4 kevlar+4 perlon), (4 perlon+4 glass+ 4 perlon), (4 perlon+4 carbon+4 perlon) and three mixed samples (3perlon+2 kevlar+2 perlon+2 carbon+3 perlon), (3 perlon+2 kevlar+2 perlon+2 carbon+3 perlon), and (3 perlon+2 kevlar+2 perlon+3 carbon+2 perlon). The sample with the lamination (4 perlon+4 kevlar+4 perlon) layers has shown a good ultimate stress=124.7 MPa, and modulus of elasticity = 25.6 GPa with an acceptable of impact energy 13.7 Joule, toughness 147.9 KJ/m2 and a fracture toughness of 65.77 MN/m3/2 using the orhocrylic resin.