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Numerical simulations on fatigue destruction of ultra‐high molecular weight polyethylene using discrete element analyses
Author(s) -
Shibata Nobuyuki,
Tomita Naohide,
Ikeuchi Ken
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
journal of biomedical materials research part a
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.849
H-Index - 150
eISSN - 1552-4965
pISSN - 1549-3296
DOI - 10.1002/jbm.a.10374
Subject(s) - materials science , substructure , grain boundary , discrete element method , composite material , polyethylene , ultra high molecular weight polyethylene , boundary element method , finite element method , numerical analysis , computer simulation , compression (physics) , boundary value problem , structural engineering , mechanics , microstructure , mathematical analysis , physics , mathematics , engineering
Abstract Ultra‐high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE) is a heterogeneous material composed of a networked substructure of grain boundary and grain aggregation. A new numerical model based on the discrete element method (DEM) was proposed to examine microscopic defect formation and propagation in UHMWPE. Numerical simulations were carried out using this model under two types of loading condition: unidirectional repetitive compression (simple loading) and bidirectional repetitive compression (switched loading). Subsurface defects were initiated and propagated in the vicinity of grain boundaries under both loading conditions. The defect propagation behavior was especially sensitive to grain boundary allocation under switched loading. An increase in defects was more rapid under switched loading than under simple loading. These numerical results showed qualitatively good agreement with experimental ones. It is suggested that the newly developed numerical method based on the DEM is a promising method to investigate fatigue behavior of a heterogeneous material such as UHMWPE under complicated loading conditions. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Biomed Mater Res 64A: 570–582, 2003