Authors:
Sergio Cerón-Escutia
1
;
Axayácatl Morales-Guadarrama
2
;
Silvia B. González-Brambila
3
and
David Vidal-García
1
Affiliations:
1
Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana - Azcapotzalco/CyAD, St. Pablo’s Ave. 180, Azcapotzalco, Mexico City, Mexico
;
2
Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana - Iztapalapa/Department of Electrical Engineering, CI3M, Researcher, St. Rafael Atlixco 186 Ave., Iztapalapa, Mexico City, Mexico
;
3
Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana - Azcapotzalco/System Departament, St. Pablo’s Ave. 180, Azcapotzalco, Mexico City, Mexico
Keyword(s):
Bio-design, Reverse Engineering, 3D Print, Luffa Cylindrica, MRI, Splint.
Abstract:
This article presents a method to design a splint from the MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging) of the dried fruit of a tropical plant called Luffa (Luffa cylindrica (L.) M.Roem), which shows the possibility of using synthetic forms in Nature to reproduce and apply them in the development of products, a concept known as bio-design. This fruit –similar to a cucumber-, when dried it becomes a fibrous and imbricated structure that confers interesting stiffness and lightness properties, which were used to design a splint for a human foot, different from the conventional plaster, through a reverse engineering process. Such structure was copied, with the help of a 7T MRI scanner (Magnetic Resonator of seven Tesla Varian). The images of the Luffa processed with the OSIRIX® and AMIRA® programs then converted to the STL (STereo Lithography) format for manipulated with CAD / CAM (Computer-Aided Design / Computer-Aided Manufacturing) programs. The results have been successful since it was possible
to print by FDM (Fused Deposition Modeling) a scale model of the splint in ABS (Acrylonitrile butadiene styrene), from a module that extracted from the MRI, which tested in a model of a human foot.
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