High Speed Drilling of Bone: Experimental Investigation of Surface Roughness and Thrust Force

The problem of bone fracture in medicine due to an accident, aging or diseases, has existed since humans started to do work and activity. The process of bone drilling is an essential part of internal immobilization in orthopedic and trauma surgery. This method is based on drilling of host bone and fixing its separate parts together using screws, metal plates and wires. Bone-fixative components interaction, affects mechanical strength of the junction. This research experimentally investigates the effect of cutting speed on surface roughness of drilled holes and thrust force in a bovine femur bone using high speeds. Surface roughness was measured with contact method and results of high speed drilling were compared with ultrasonic assisted drilling. The results demonstrate that with high values of cutting speed, the value of thrust force and surface roughness can be reduced and the minimum value of surface roughness in high speed drilling is slightly bigger than minimum surface roughness in ultrasonic assisted drilling.

Keywords:

Bone drilling , Surface roughness , Thrust force , High speed drilling