Resin enables flexible prosthetic foot design
Canadian Plastics
Life may have gotten a little easier for those crippled by landmine explosions, thanks to the new Niagara Foot highperformance prosthetic foot, designed as part of a landmine victims' relief program b...
Life may have gotten a little easier for those crippled by landmine explosions, thanks to the new Niagara Foot highperformance prosthetic foot, designed as part of a landmine victims’ relief program by Ont.-based Niagara Prosthetic & Orthotics International Ltd.
Featuring flexibility made possible by DuPont’s Hytrel thermoplastic polyester elastomer, the Niagara Foot is capable of supporting an individual weighing up to 80 kilograms.
A key aspect of its design lies in its keel — a single, Sshaped part, injection molded from Hytrel 8238, that acts like a spring to provide energy storage and return to the wearer while walking.
According to DuPont, while a number of other materials, including poloxymethylenes (POM) and polyamides, were unable to carry an 80 kilogram load without deformation — as required by ISO 10328 standards — Hytrel 8238 exceeded this load during tests carried out at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ont.
E.I du Pont Canada Company (Mississauga, Ont.); www.plastics.dupont.com; 1-800-387-2122
