Hand prosthetics fabrication using additive manufacturing

Abstract

The popularity of Additive manufacturing is increasing day by day in industry 4.0. This study presents an overview of hand prosthetics fabrication using additive manufacturing. In the present work, various three-dimensional printed hand prosthetics were considered, and the study was done in two parts. The first part of this study is focused on the different types of additive manufacturing techniques, materials used for fabrication, and the design availability of hand prosthetics. The second part focuses on discussing the various elements of hand prosthetics namely – actuation, control mechanism, and power supply. This part also discusses the classification of hand prosthetics based on the disability of the human hand. This study aims to critically compare the designs, 3D printing methods and materials used for hand prosthetics. The finding of the study shows that fused filament fabrication has been widely used to fabricate hand prosthetics using the material such as – polylactic acid (PLA), acrylonitrile butadiene (ABS) and thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU). The reasons for the lack of acceptance of 3D-printed hand prosthetics by customers have also been discussed.