Setting temperatures of synthetic casts.

We used a glass tube containing water at body temperature to simulate a lower limb and applied commonly used synthetic-cast materials to this artificial limb in order to measure the exotherm created by these materials. Tests were limited to six plies and were done with and without a pillow under the cast. If the instructions called for the use of dip water, we used water at 24, 32, and 40 degrees Celsius. Under these conditions, none of the commonly used synthetic materials created temperatures that were high enough to cause burns.