Stress Analysis of Hip and Knee Prostheses Using a Novel Biomaterial PTFE Glass Composite

Received: 29 December 2018 Accepted: 7 March 2019 Modern hip and knee prostheses are mostly available in Metal-on-Metal, Metal-on-Plastic, and Metal-on-Ceramic combinations. Use of Metal-on-Metal prostheses is restricted due to adverse effect of worn metallic particles in the body. Hence the manufacturers are focusing on the Metal-on-Plastic (MoP) prostheses for safe and reliable arthroplasty. Finite Element Modeling plays a great role in this direction for the design of high quality hip and knee prostheses. This study investigates the stress analysis and contact behavior of MoP hip and knee prostheses using a novel biomaterial called Poly-tetra Fluoroethylene with 25 % glass composite coded as PTFE-25 for the acetabular and tibial liners by using ANSYS.16 software under various loads. The analysis revealed that the von-mises equivalent stress, and contact pressures for both the prostheses are highest in case of PTFE-25 as compared to that of the Ultra-high Molecular Weight Polyethylene (UHMWPE) articulating againest the Co-Cr components. Moreover, the total deformation in case of PTFE-25 is lesser as compared to UHMWPE under identical loading conditions. The higher the contact pressure the greater will be the wear resistance of the liners. This shows that PTFE-25 is a better candidate for the acetabular and tibial liners of the hip and knee prostheses.