A Multidisciplinary Approach for the Designing and Realization of Customized High Performance Prostheses by Continuous Fiber Additive Manufacturing

Additive Manufacturing (AM) techniques have attracted great interest in sectors with high benefit such as the Medtech. The AM of continuous fiber reinforced composite is a technology that, although still in its initial development, appears to be very promising. The AM process could be particularly interesting for the production of prosthetic devices for sports (ESAR devices such as foot or foil). In this work, is explored the potential of additive manufacturing in the field of prosthetics of the lower limb through an multidisciplinary approach, involving several competences from the clinical evaluation, integration of biomechanics, development of new composite and hybrid materials based on polymers, carbon fibres and metal inserts, and implementation of optical sensors with their integration in the composites for the continuous monitoring of prosthetic devices and their durability.