Study, design and prototyping of arm splint with additive manufacturing process
The aim1 of this study is to propose the additive manufactured 3D printed technique for adaptive organic design splint as a solution for the problems generated by the use of casts in medical applications. Since the end of the XVIII century, when casts begin to be used, they have barely improved. Thanks to new manufacture and material techniques, we can improve and modernize this commonly used fracture treatment method. Based on three dimensional digitalization techniques and modeling via reverse engineering software, a 3D printed splint is proposed, which will provide the benefits of cast avoiding its deficiencies.
The feasibility of using a low-cost depth camera for 3D scanning in mass customization
Abstract By combining additive manufacturing with 3D measurement techniques, tailored production work-flows that include the digitizing of existing components, computer-aided design, and tool-free manufacturing of the customized parts can be envisioned, potentially reducing the costs of mass customization. The introduction of affordable depth cameras has greatly increased the consumer availability of 3D measuring. We present the application of an affordable depth camera for the 3D digitizing of existing components, the utilization of the produced data in the design process, and finally, the production of the designed component with additive manufacturing. The capabilities of the affordable depth camera system are evaluated by comparing it with photogrammetric 3D reconstruction, revealing issues in smaller geometric details and sharp edges.
EFFECT OF SAMPLE PREPARATION ON WATER TREE RESISTANCE OF XLPE/SEBS BLENDS
The effects of an aromatic polymer, such as poly[styrene-b-(ethylene-co-butylene)b-styrene] (SEBS), and its preparation processes on water tree resistance, morphology, crystallinity, dielectric constant and dielectric loss tangent of crosslinked polyethylene (XLPE)/SEBS and XLPE/SEBS/ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA) blends were investigated. The XLPE/SEBS samples were characterized by means of differential scanning calorimetry, scanning electron microscopy, dielectric spectral analysis and the accelerated water treeing experiment. The results clearly showed that although SEBS was partially compatible with LDPE and it was dispersed evenly in XLPE matrix, the blends demonstrated excellent dielectric performances, such as dielectric constant and dissipation factor. The crystallinity of XLPE/SEBS blends was decreased with increase in SEBS content and it was further decreased with the addition of EVA. SEBS could effectively improve the water-tree resistance of XLPE and both SEBS and EVA were found to improve the water tree resistance of XLPE synergistically as expected. The differences in sample preparation processes could change the phase morphology and dielectric performance of the blends, and could also influence the dispersion of SEBS in XLPE matrix as well as the crystallinity of the blends. Different preparation processes led to different water tree resistance behaviours of the samples. The improvement of SEBS dispersion in XLPE matrix helped to improve the water tree resistance of XLPE.