Research On Design Method And Application Of 3D Printing External Fixation Brace For Rehabilitation

Traditional external fracture fixation relies heavily on technical experience,and the satisfaction of patients during rehabilitation is always reduced due to bulky brace and poor air permeability,etc.The effect of fixation depends largely on the skill and experience of the clinician.In recent years,the introduction of 3D printing technology in orthopedic and rehabilitation practices has made it possible to customize external fixation braces and improve patient satisfaction.At present,from the design of external fixation support to 3D printing production,from data collection to CAD modeling and finally 3D printing production,it needs interdisciplinary and multi-professional linkage to achieve.The whole process is time-consuming and complicated,which does not meet the clinical requirements of timeliness and convenience,and restricts its clinical application to a large extent.Therefore,improving the customization efficiency of the external fixation support and optimizing the 3D printing process parameters of the support have become the focus and purpose of this paper.Firstly,literature analysis was used to understand the current research status and relevant technical means of conventional fracture fixation and 3D printing brace.Based on this,the design positioning and design principles of this study were proposed.The sketch scheme of the external fixator was drawn through brainstorming,and the principle of color matching to reflect emotion and symbolism was clarified.The existing 3D scanning technology,data processing software,3D printing technology and consumables were investigated,and appropriate research was selected based on design principles.Secondly,in order to realize the rapid and accurate construction of the 3D model of the external fixation brace,the contactless 3D scanner was used to quickly obtain the contour data of the patient’s fracture site and process the data,and a fault-tolerant 3D model placement method was proposed.Using Grasshopper software,the modeling program of parameterized design of external fixed supports was written,and the structural strength of the model generated by this method was evaluated by finite element analysis.Then,in order to realize the rapid and high-quality printing production of external fixation support,the influences of printing speed,printing layer height and nozzle temperature on printing quality and printing time were tested by single factor experiment and orthogonal experiment.The best combination of printing process parameters was summarized by range analysis and correlative line chart analysis,and the optimal combination of printing parameters was verified.Finally,the post-treatment process of the 3D printing external support was optimized,the process flow of grinding,adding lining and installing fixing device was determined,and the actual application steps were standardized.Through the design practice,the customization efficiency of the parametric modeling design program was verified,and the fitting and satisfaction of the support were evaluated by the way of actual wearing.In this study,3D scanning and parameterized modeling design were applied to the design of external fixation supports,and the rapid and accurate construction of external fixation supports was realized by 3D printing.The parameterized modeling design program can help clinicians no longer need the tedious modeling operation and provide a better solution for the design of external fixator in accordance with ergonomics.The optimal parameter combination of the 3D printing process obtained from the experiment can be used to print and manufacture the supports quickly and with high quality.