Testing the stability of the polyethylene acetabulum cemented on a frozen bone graft substrate on a model of an artificial hip joint.

The stability of the polyethylene acetabulum cemented on a substrate made of frozen bone grafts was investigated. The force was applied to the edge of the acetabulum and the magnitude of the force and resulting displacement were recorded. These tests were preceded by stress testing, during which the acetabulum was subjected to loading forces of 1 or 3 kN through 100,000 cycles. Additionally the influence of the thickness of grafts layer on the overall stability of an implant was also determined. The experiments proved that such factors as initial compacting of bone grafts, magnitude of the loading force and thickness of grafts layer greatly affect the stability of the artificial acetabulum.