The engineering problems associated with implantation into the human body of prosthetic knee implants and some of the outstanding issues facing engineering designers in this growing sector of orthopaedic medicine are described. The contact behaviour of polymeric tibial components was modelled using a stainless steel indentor in contact with an Araldite CT200 block which contained embedded strain gauges. The block was subjected to normal and sliding loads and the stresses in the block were evaluated using the strain data; the results were compared with results obtained from finite element analysis. The results are considered in the light of recent experience with non-conforming knee implants.
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