Management of Ti-6Al-4V and SS316L Stress Shielding and Stability of Femoral Fracture Fixation Bone Plates by Finite Element Analysis in COMSOL Metaphysics

Abstract

The human femur is known as the longest bone in the human body. For compression, it is known as the most robust bone. The femur bears the majority of body weight and facilitates several essential functions, including ambulation and leaping from a height. Bone fractures typically result from an excessive stress that exceeds the maximum strain that a human bone can withstand. Due to the loss of the bone's capacity for self-healing, a bone fracture with a fragment larger than 5 mm needs extra support, such as a bone implant, for recovery. The repair process is accelerated with a bone implant that holds the parts in place, permits realignment, and limits excessive movement. The commercially available bone plates comprised of biocompatible metallic materials or metal alloys are used in the current fracture fixation technique. To aid in the healing process, these bone plates are often attached to one side of the fracture. Prosthetic bone bioimplants have been designed and developed using conventional metallic biomaterials like titanium alloy (Ti-6Al-4V) and stainless steel (SS 316L). Two typical internal fixation materials are relatively evaluated with Finite Element Method (FEM) in COMSOL Multiphysics and they comprise Titanium alloy (Ti-6Al-4V) and Stainless Steel (SS316L) in realistic conditions of loads in the fractures of the diaphyseal segment of the femur. The fixation of the fracture shall be stable and the issue of stress shielding is the issue due to the use of the relatively inelastic material that is SS316L (Young) which are the ones that bear the majority of the load and causes bone resorption A complex 3D model of the femur-plate-screw system with transverse fracture of 1 mm has been modeled with an intention of equaling the material with the same physiological biomechanical boundary loads. These results showed that theTi-6Al-4V plate system was in a superior state concerning the mechanical performance of an overall displacement of 3.887599mm, compared to the huge displacement of SS316L (25.1252). It proves that Ti-6Al-4V is better and provides greater structural stability and thus is even more suitable material which can be used as load-bearing orthopedic implants, where structural stability is of significant determinant of clinical success.