Effectiveness of Polyurethane Handle Grip Materials on Hand Arm Vibration while Operating Hand Grinding Machines

MANI CHIDAMBARAM

doi:10.3759/joise.v4i1.1933

Abstract

The objective of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of handle grips of polyurethane materials of different densities on hand arm vibration while operating hand held grinding machines. The hand arm vibration was analyzed in terms of fingertip force, using FingerTPS systems. Polyurethane foam handle grips of thickness 4 mm, of four densities were chosen for the study. Thirteen healthy male subjects consisting of students and professionals were involved in the study and the grinding was done on a standardized work piece of a mild steel plate, in the randomly ordered experimental conditions. Using a handle grip reduces the force on hand and higher the density of the handle grip foam, the higher is the reduction of the four handle grips deployed for the trial, the handle grip ‘foam 120’, which has the highest density, reduced 54.9% of the force as compared with the bare handed condition. The pneumatic grinding machine operators can use a handle grip of polyurethane foam of density D120 to obtain a maximum reduction of the force on the fingers and hand.