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The aim of this work is to realize a new prosthetic socket, which wants to lay the foundation for a new generation of sockets. A first assessment of the residual limb volume fluctuations and pressure distribution is given, since there is clearly a lack of this information in literature, especially regarding transfemoral amputees. Indeed, two transfemoral amputees have been considered for this thesis.
According to these parameters the design was realized. The temperature issue has been minimized by designing a prototype, made of struts and opened areas, which should let the skin breath. Secondly, the structure accommodates volume variations and enhances the comfort through the application of the layer jamming principle. Indeed, the layer jamming allows to control the stiffness through vacuum pressure. Hence The layer jamming allows to increase the structure stiffness during specific tasks, while, during the rest of the time, it makes it softer and it enhances the comfort. A manual cabling system has been used to modulate the compression acted by the struts. The socket realization workflow was speed up by 3D printing the components on the base of the shapes of the amputees’ residual limb.