The skin frictional properties of 4 kinds of commonly used prosthetic materials / 生物医学工程学杂志

ABSTRACT

Skin frictional properties of four kinds of prosthetic materials in common use have been researched. Experiments are carried out on residual limb and on normal tibia. Surface roughness and the hydrophobic/hydrophilic of the skin and materials are also tested. Under normal load 0.3 N and 0.7 N, the friction coefficient of silicon rubber and skin has the maximum value among all the materials due to the surface property of silicon rubber (containing oil). There is remarkable difference in friction coefficient between normal skin and amputee skin when they are in contact with silicon rubber (P<0.05). Other materials show "the higher the hydrophobia tendency of surface, the lower the friction coefficient". There are no significant differences (P>0.05) in friction coefficient between amputee skin and normal skin when they are in contact with all materials under normal load 8 N.