Responses-Plastic AFO reinforcement

Responses-Plastic AFO reinforcement

Mohammad Reza Mirheydari

7/22/2007

Great thanks to anyone helped in this case .
  I bring the original post and responses followed :
  Original post:
   
  I,m to make a custom moulded rigid ankle support splint from polypropylene sheet ( with 5mm thickness ) to control severe ankle varus instability of the patient . I want to reinforce ankle region by incorporation of carbon fibers or other reinforcement materials to prevent strain of this portion in direction of varus/valgus .
  I need to know the technique by which I could incorporate reinforcement material in pp sheet and if I should use an adhesive , what is it?
  Your help is greatly appreciated .
  Regards & sincerely
  Mohammad reza Mirheydari
  Bsc , president
  Mir Orth./prost. center ( www.orthomir.org )
   
   
  Responses:
   
    
what about just using a second piece of plastic or a corrugation to reinforce this area?
Jen Halliday BSc CO(c)
  
 
  You would pre-heat some Becker carbon reinforcements and apply them to either side of the Achilles tendon region just behind the malleoli... that being said, you may not need these at all if you extend the trim lines of the AFO anteriorly along the lateral border of the affected limb just above the lateral mallelous proceeding proximally for about 2-3 inches. This would be a great help in re-aligning the ankle and providing the necessary support to control the ankle varus. Hope this helps. What country do you live in? How are things going?
  Steven Fries, LPO
  USA
   
  I dont know you know me or not. I am Mohammad Taghi Karimi a PhD student of Strathclyde University , Bioengineering Unit. I did this as a part of my project to design a new RGO orthosis . You can call me to say you and send you relevat information.
   
   
  There could be many possibilities for stability.
  -You could also go for Laminated AFO with Carbon Fibre Reinforcement. That could be extra stable and light.
  -In case of PP, Instead of reinforcement, you could use a leather pulling strap which will take some pressure and there will be minimum strain on PP material. A slot could be made at the back of AFO and the strap be entered from there.
  -Instead of carbon mixing with PP I will go for steel strip which can be riveted properly. In this case the strip has to bended (moulded) properly on the pop model and the PP has to be molded on it. A space will be created for the strip. It can be riveted with pp and be covered will foam.
  -Other possibility could be to heat 2mm and 3mm pp sheets at the same time .Put the Carbon sheet on the exact place on one of the pp sheet and glove both the pp sheets together before molding on the model. One has to be very expert to get the reinforcement in the correct place. In this way the reinforcement will be sandwiched.
  I don?t think there is and glove which can fix carbon with pp.If anybody has some idea please share it with me.Reveting will also not be a good idea in this case (Carbon+PP).
  I will also take this opportunity to invite you to Dubai and visit our specialized P&O centre in Dubai Healthcare City. We are getting many patients from Iran for Carbon Fiber KAFOs, Below Knee, Above Knee and Myo-Electric prosthesis and Scoliosis Braces.
  Thanks.
  Mazhar Hussain Tazagrami
  CPO,German Meister from BUFA
  Manager Operations
  German Limbtech,Orthopadic Technology,LLC
  P.O.Box 505024
  www.limbtech.ae
  00971-50-5678507
   
  If you use Compcore ( it's a blend of carbon with thermoplastic) you can heat it up as the polypro is heating, put it on the cast just before pulling the polypro, and it will bond to it. Leave a space on the cast posteriorly with no Compcore to allow for different shrinkage rates.
Depending on the degree of rigidity needed, you could also just put extra polypro strips at the ankle, or make corruagations by placing parachute cord on the cast before pulling the polypro. The cord will come out after leaving the ankle section stronger due to the corrugations.
Good luck,
Karen Lynch, CPO

  

  You can use Compcore from Becker Orthopedic to reinforce your polypropylene orthoses. We developed this technique in the early 1990's. I was the developer of this technique. Compcore is a polypropylene prepreg composite. The composite has carbon as well as fiber glass fibers as the matrix. The fibers are continuous and run in a 0 - 90 orientation. The standard version has four layers of fibers, two of carbon and two of glass. The heavy duty version has six layers of three each of the fibers. Carbon and glass is used for two reasons; glass for impact strength and carbon for higher tensile strength. Compcore is cut into a reinforcement coupon of your choice. It is heated in the oven along with your host sheet of PP. When all your materials are at molding temperature, place the Compcore on the model first, then mold with your host sheet. The vacuuforming must be done very quickly as the PP in the Compcore and the hot host PP sheet must chemically bond while at melt
 temperature. You do not need any adhesive to hold the Compcore in place as the material will chemically bond at melt temperature. There are other polypropylene reinforcement sheets that are available on the market, but they are all copies of our material as we developed and patented the process. If you have any other questions, please do not hesitate to contact me. Regards, Gary G. Bedard, B.Sc., CO, FAAOP Becker Orthopedic Company (650) 349-0752

   

       
---------------------------------
Building a website is a piece of cake.
Yahoo! Small Business gives you all the tools to get online.