Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Identifier

485

Date

2011

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science

Major

Mechanical Engineering

Committee Chair

Gladius Lewis

Committee Member

Hsiang Lin

Committee Member

Teong Tan

Abstract

The purpose of the present study was to design a wear tester for implants of the first metatarsophalangeal joint (FMTPJ), otherwise known as the first joint of the big toe. Many different designs of this type of implant from many different manufacturers are currently in clinical use, but there is no information in the open literature as to how these implants are tested for in vivo durability. There are several case studies, however, in which premature implant fractures were reported. It is possible that the incidence of such fractures might have been lower if standardized wear testing of FMTPJ implants existed. We studied the development history of FMTPJ implants, the designs of implants currently in clinical use; current wear test methods used on hip and knee implants, the biomechanics of the FMTPJ, and designed a wear tester that could be used to test current and future implant designs in vitro. A stress analysis of the tester indicated that any failure would occur at the implant/fixture interface and that the machine can test at forces beyond what has been observed in the normal gait.

Comments

Data is provided by the student.

Library Comment

Dissertation or thesis originally submitted to the local University of Memphis Electronic Theses & dissertation (ETD) Repository.

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