A probabilistic fracture mechanics criterion for bone-cement interface

The interfacial fracture toughness between bovine cortical bone and various cements has been experimentally determined by several researchers, but the data is difficult to interpret and to apply in designing implants This is mainly due to a large amount of apparent scatter resulting from the variation of the bone morphology The failure strengths at the interface are governed by the localized high stress gradient and may hence be treated by the modify Weibull failure theory developed by the authors The goal of this study is to obtain a probabilistic mechanistic interpretation of how bones fail and how the debonding of bone-cement interfaces occurs.