Date Approved

1-27-2025

Graduate Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Engineering (M.S.E.)

Degree Program

School of Engineering

First Advisor

Dr. Wendy Reffeor

Second Advisor

Dr. Shabbir Choudhuri

Third Advisor

Dr. Brent Nowak

Academic Year

2024/2025

Abstract

In many orthopedic and dental interventions, the cutting and removal of bone is necessary. Therefore, it is of the utmost importance that the tools used during these procedures are designed and tested with biological bone or a bone surrogate material that machines the same way as biological bone. To avoid the cost, hazard, and inconsistency of biological cadaveric bone or animal models, many biological engineering firms use bone surrogate material made of glass fiber filled epoxy and polyurethane foam. Although these materials may mimic the elongation of cortical and cancellous bone, respectively, the match of machinability of the bone is in question. In particular, no study has compared surrogate and biological cancellous bone of the femur. In this study, the machinability of bovine bone is compared to a Sawbones #18 polyurethane cancellous bone surrogate. The cutting force between these two materials was compared by measuring the cutting torque at a specified radius. The median cutting force of biological bone under the testing conditions was found to be statistically significantly higher than that of synthetic biological bone. Further, it was found through the end milling tests performed that the population variances are statistically significantly different, with biological variation in force being magnitudes higher than synthetic bone. Finally, a cost effective and reliable test setup is outlined in order to aid in the eventual standardization of biological and biological surrogate material testing.

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