Authors: M. G. Fernandes, E. M. M. Fonseca, R. M. Natal

The behaviour of bone tissue during drilling has been subject of recent studies due to their importance. However, there is still a lack information with regard to the distribution of mechanical and thermal stresses during bone drilling. The present paper describes a sequentially coupled thermal-stress analysis to assess the mechanical and thermal stress distribution during bone drilling. A three-dimensional thermo-mechanical model was developed using ANSYS/LS-DYNA as finite element code under different drilling conditions. The model incorporates the dynamic characteristics of drilling process, as well as the thermo- mechanical properties of the involved materials. Experimental tests in polyurethane foam materials were also carried out. It was concluded that the use of high feed-rate leads to a decrease of normal stresses and strains in the foam materials. The experimental and numerical results were compared and showed good agreement. The proposed numerical model could be used to predict the better drilling parameters to minimize the bone injuries.

M. G. Fernandes¹ | E. M. M. Fonseca² | R. M. Natal³
1INEGI, Faculty of Engineering of University of Porto, Portugal.
2Department of Applied Mechanics, LAETA, INEGI, Polytechnic Institute of Bragança, Portugal.
3Department of Mechanical Engineering, LAETA, INEGI, Faculty of Engineering of University of Porto, Portugal.