Italian researchers use field-driven lattice design to cut prosthetic socket weight by 25%

Researchers from four Italian universities have developed a digital workflow for producing patient-specific upper-limb prosthetic sockets with spatially graded lattice structures.

Combining 3D scanning, finite element analysis, elastic-plastic homogenization and Field-Driven Design, the method adjusts lattice strut diameter according to local mechanical loads. The resulting design had a reported weight of 373 g, 25.4% below the equivalent 500 g bulk model. A full-scale PA12 prototype was subsequently manufactured using Multi Jet Fusion.

Published in Materials & Design, the work brings together the Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna, the University of Trento, the University of Pisa and Sapienza University of Rome. Its central contribution is not a clinically finished prosthesis, but a workflow th