Preparation of base materials for prosthetic socket fabrication

The properties and performance of the matrix material are key factors for obtaining comfortable and wearable prosthetic sockets. However, there are only a few reported studies on prosthetic socket materials, especially on the preparation of the base material.Methyl methacrylate monomers were used to synthesize prepolymers viabulk polymerization with different initiator contents, and the prepolymer was modified to generate base materials for prosthetic socket fabrication. The performance of the different base materials was investigated, as well as the effect of the inhibitor content on the curing time and storage stability.The experiments and subsequent investigations indicate that a prepolymer synthesized with an initiator content of 0.30% and a base material prepared with an inhibitor content of 1.25% exhibited the best storage stability and the most suitable post-curing time, and therefore showed the most favourable properties for manufacturing wearable prosthetic sockets.