Mechanical evaluation of various geometrical designs in additive manufacturing for future knee brace harness
- UNCG Author/Contributor (non-UNCG co-authors, if there are any, appear on document)
- Shadrack Boadu Afrane (Creator)
- Institution
- The University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG )
- Web Site: http://library.uncg.edu/
- Advisor
- Lajeunesse Lajeunesse
Abstract: Additive manufacturing, commonly known as 3D printing, has gained significant inclination due to its numerous benefits in processing and manufacturing. Among all human joints, the knee joint is the most involved in day-to-day activities and is highly susceptible to injuries. Therefore, a well-designed knee brace with enhanced mechanical and geometric properties holds the potential to offer effective diverse support to the knee joint in the future. This project explored the use of additive manufacturing and computer-aided design, specifically OpenSCAD, to design and print six (3) different geometric shapes (simple grid, offset grid, and grid with diamond holes) with five (5) different photopolymer resins (thermochromic resin, water washable resin, standard translucent photopolymer resin, standard plant-based photopolymer resin and ABS-like resin). The ultimate tensile strength of each print and young’s modulus were also analyzed using the stable micro system analyzer. Analysis revealed the simple grid has the best tensile strength with a stress value (4.136 N/mm2) and (YM~2.299MPa) whilst the geometry with the least tensile strength was the offset grid with a tensile strength value of (0.217 N/mm2) and YM~0.111MPa). Other mechanical properties such break strain and elastic behavior were also analyzed. Thermochromic and standard photopolymer resin exhibited the highest ultimate tensile strength. This depicts the effects of varying geometries and resin types on the mechanical properties of materials which provides a valuable insight for future development in the field of customizable knee brace fabrication.
Mechanical evaluation of various geometrical designs in additive manufacturing for future knee brace harness
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Created on 5/1/2024
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Additional Information
- Publication
- Thesis
- Language: English
- Date: 2024
- Keywords
- AM- additive manufacturing, ASTM-American Society for Testing and Materials, Break strain, SLA- stereolithography, UTS- Ultimate tensile strength, YM- young's modulus