Last modified: 2010-09-06
Abstract
The quality of bonding between the acetabular cup and pelvis bone plays a key role in total hip replacement stability. One of the source of potential loss of the primary stability is the cement layer degradation. The aim of the research was to investigate the cemented bone-implant interface behavior. The main problems (cement layer degradation and bone-cement interface debonding) during physiological loading conditions [2] have been investigated using a custom hip simulator. The experimental setup was designed to allow cyclic loading of the sample of pelvic bone with implanted cemented acetabular component. The hip contact force of required direction and magnitude was applied to the implant using a spherical femoral component head. The most unfavorable activity (downstairs walking) was simulated in two million cycles with 4 Hz frequency [1]. The pelvic bone was supported by an epoxy mould. The bone was moistened by saline solution. The process of damage accumulation in cement fixation was monitored by repeated scanning using high resolution micro Computed Tomography (μCT). Use of microfocus source and large high resolution flat panel detector allows investigation of structural changes as well as development of full-scale micro-structural models.