Ultrasonic longitudinal torsion-assisted biotic bone drilling: An experimental study

State-of-the-art treatment of such orthopedic diseases as fracture and femoral head necrosis implies the installation of prosthesis or fixed equipment into patients' injured parts using bone drilling. This study proposes an ultrasonic longitudinal torsion-assisted drilling (ULTAD) technique for biotic bone drilling. A comparative experiment was carried out between conventional drilling and ULTAD drilling in biotic bone, namely porcine femur. These tests proved that under the same drilling parameters, the ultrasonic component in bone drilling could reduce the drilling temperature and forces, improve the material removal by chip breaking, shorten the length of bone debris, and facilitate their discharge. Moreover, the proposed ULTAD technique reduced the number, length, and width of microcracks in the borehole wall, thus protecting the drilled biotic bone from internal damage.