Planar 3D-Printing and Intrinsic Heat Generation Thermoforming of a Fully Customizable Ankle Orthosis - A Feasibility Approach

There is a wide spectrum of injuries and medical conditions that are treated with the use of orthoses. For better comfort fully customized orthoses are designed and manufactured via 3D-printing or thermoforming thermoplastic casts with a low glass transition and softening temperature nowadays. This study aims to print a planar orthosis design and then thermoform the orthotic blank with intrinsic heating to get the final customized design depending on patient's needs. After identifying possible thermoplastic polymers for the application with differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) to determine thermal properties, tensile testing for mechanical properties and peel-off testing to measure multi material printing adhesion, the final orthosis blank is printed using Wire-Encapsulation-Additive-Manufacturing to integrate heating wires into the structure and create the intrinsic ability of heat generation for the thermoforming process.