Dr Karthikeyan Kandan, senior lecturer in Mechanical Engineering at De Montfort University in Leicester, found he could grind waste plastic bottles down and use the granulated material to spin polyester yarns, which can then be heated up to form a solid yet lightweight material that can be moulded into prosthetic limbs.
The cost of producing a prosthetic socket this way is just £10, compared to the current industry average of around £5,000 each.
The breakthrough could help make prosthetics more accessible to millions of people in developing countries.
“There are so many people in developing countries who would really benefit from quality artificial limbs but unfortunately cannot afford them,” said Prof Malcolm Granat, professor in health and rehabilitation sciences at the University of Salford.
“The aim of this project was to identify cheaper, readily available materials that we could use to help these people. This is a really exciting development and could have an important impact on the way we are able to provide affordable, high quality artificial limbs in future.”
Dr Kandan is now looking to conduct a larger-scale study with more people from different countries, so that the design can be adapted to meet patients’ individual circumstances.