P2G-7 Effect of Ultrasonic Cutting Blade Orientation on Cutting Temperature

Ultrasonic cutting of bone offers advantages compared with orthopaedic devices that rely on a reciprocating action, including the elimination of swarf, improved cut quality and precision, and reduced reaction forces. The technology has become accepted as an alternative cutting procedure for use in surgical operations on soft tissue. Recent studies conducted on bovine bone and a bone substitute material have shown that ultrasonic cutting results in a precise and fast operation using relatively low forces. Previous work by the authors highlighted the significance of frictional heating during ultrasonic cutting, a phenomenon that can lead to material degradation and excessive burning of the cut surface. The work presented a method of reducing cutting temperature by controlling ultrasonic cutting parameters and also presented a method of further reducing cutting temperature by incorporating blade geometry modifications that reduce friction between the blade and the specimen. Such studies have been concerned with uni-axial cutting blade orientations, known as guillotine cutting, and opportunities exist to enhance orthopaedic ultrasonic cutting by developing blades that can operate in more than one cutting direction. This paper investigates the relationship between cutting parameters (such as cutting speed, applied load and blade tip vibration velocity) and temperature at locations around the cut site for a synthetic bone material during guillotine and slicing mode cutting