Investigation of a fatigue failure in a stainless steel femoral plate

Surgical implants are exposed to severe working conditions and therefore a wide range of failure mechanisms may occur, including fatigue, corrosion, wear, fretting and combinations of them. The mechanical failures of metallic implants may also be influenced by several other factors, including the de...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of the mechanical behavior of biomedical materials 2014-10, Vol.38, p.52-58
Main Authors: Marcomini, JB, Baptista, C.A.R.P., Pascon, J.P., Teixeira, R.L., Reis, F.P.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Aged, 80 and over
Bone Plates
Crack initiation
Crack propagation
Equipment Failure Analysis
Failure analysis
Fatigue
Fatigue failure
Femoral Fractures - surgery
Femoral plate
Femur - surgery
Fracture mechanics
Humans
Liquid crystal polymers
Mechanical Phenomena
Orthopaedic implants
Stainless Steel
Stainless steels
Surgical implants
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Summary:Surgical implants are exposed to severe working conditions and therefore a wide range of failure mechanisms may occur, including fatigue, corrosion, wear, fretting and combinations of them. The mechanical failures of metallic implants may also be influenced by several other factors, including the design, material, manufacturing, installation, postoperative complications and misuse. An 83-year-old patient suffered an oblique femoral shaft fracture due to a fall at home. A stainless steel locking compression plate (LCP) employed in the fracture reduction failed after four months and was sent back to the producer. A second LCP of the same type was implanted and also failed after six months. A failure analysis of the second femoral LCP is performed in this paper. The results demonstrate that poor material quality was decisive to the failure. The chemical analysis revealed a high P content in the steel, which is not in accordance to the standards. A combination of factors lead to LCP fracture and these include: brittle crack initiation due to phosphorus, segregation at grain boundaries, crack propagation due to cyclic loading and final fast fracture favored by the loss of ductility due to cold work.
ISSN:1751-6161
1878-0180
DOI:10.1016/j.jmbbm.2014.06.011