ABSTRACT
Metallic materials and metal alloys like stainless steel, cobalt and titanium and its alloys (e.g. CoCrMo and Ti6Al4V) are the most commonly used materials for bone implants. However, these non-degradable implants are usually much stiffer than natural bone leading to stress shielding effects. In order to avoid stress shielding at the bone-interface, the equivalent young´s modulus and yield stress of the implant have to be adjusted. This paper, part of a major research program to design the next generation of bone fixation implants, describes the use of topological optimization to redesign existing implants reducing their stiffness and thus minimizing the stress shielding phenomena. A commercial available bone fixation implant is considered as a case study and different volume fraction reductions assumed.
