Suitability of Composite Material for Orthotic Calipers – Tribological Study

Abstract

Composite material is being utilized everywhere from aerospace, automobile industry to the fabric/cloth industry to the marine, medicine, sports, energy etc. The use of composite material has been increasing day by day over the years due to the excellent properties being offered by them such as lower volume – to – weight ratio, improved toughness, recyclable and environment friendly. They are considered as best material because of their short cycle productivity, easiness in fabrication, long lasting life span etc. With the help of the composites it is possible for the polio infected patients to have lighter and affordable calipers for their disfigured joints and weakened muscles. This paper presents a study of two indigenously developed composites for orthotic callipers. Two polymeric composites which have been used in experimentation are thermoplast based composite and thernoset based composite. These two composites were chosen due to their high strength, firmness and resistant to wear and corrosion. They also have lower density when compared to the presently used materials like Aluminum Alloy and Stainless Steel. The main purpose behind this work is to reduce the self weight of the calipers used by acute anterior poliomyelitis infected patients. Wear and friction tests are carried on a multi-tribo tester machine in dry conditions. The experimental results unveil that the composites have less wear and low coefficient of friction when compared with the presently used Aluminum Alloy and Stainless Steel based calipers.