Finite Element Simulation of Drill Bit and Bone
Thermal Contact During Drilling
Yuan-Kun Tu
Director, Department of Orthopedics
E-Da Hospital and I-Shou University
Kaohsiung Hsien, Taiwan
ed100130@edah.org.tw
Li-Wen Chen, Ching-Chieh Huang and Yung-Chuan Chen*
Department of Vehicle Engineering
National Pingtung University of Science and Technology
Pingtung, Taiwan
chuan@mail.npust.edu.tw (*corresponding author)
Abstract— Drilling is an essential part of internal fixation in
orthopaedic and trauma surgery. The temperature rise during
bone drilling is an important index to the damage of bone. In this
study, an elastic-plastic dynamic finite element model is used to
simulate the process of a drill bit drilling through the bone.
Various initial temperatures of drill bit are investigated to
explore the effects of this parameter on the temperature rise and
on the contact stress distribution of the bone during drilling. The
results indicate that a drill bit with a lower initial temperature
can reduce the temperature rise in bone during drilling. A
relationship between the initial temperature of drill bit and
temperature rise is proposed.
Keywords-drill bit; bone; thermal contact; dynamic finite
element model.
I. INTRODUCTION
A general concern in using surgical drills is the thermal
damage to the bone. The drills are often driven into the bone
using electrical power. The heat generated during bone drilling
is proportional to the drilling speed. Heat generation is a
particularly important problem because heat is hard to be
conducted away during bone drilling and the bone is very
sensitive to and may be damaged by heat. A literature showed
that if the temperature rises above 55 oC for a period longer
than 30 seconds, it will cause great damage to the bone [1].
Hillery and Shuaib [1] studied the temperature effects in the
drilling of human and bovine bone. The results indicated that
drilling speeds of 800-1400 rpm were suggested when drilling
with a diameter of 3.2 mm drill bit to provide the best cutting
condition and maintaining temperature at a manageable level.
Mustafa et al. [2] investigated the effect of force on drill speed
and measured the energy consumed during the drilling process.
The results indicated that heat generation decreased as drill
speed and force increased, primarily because of decreased
drilling time. The results suggested that drilling at high speed
and with a large force could reduce the bone temperature. The
978-1-4244-1748-3/08/$25.00 © 2008 IEEE
Hsun-Heng Tsai
Department of Biomechatronic Engineering
National Pingtung University of Science and Technology
Pingtung, Taiwan
heng@mail.npust.edu.tw
Li-Chiang Lin
Director, Department of Biomedical
E-Da Hospital and I-Shou University
Kaohsiung Hsien, Taiwan
ed100004@edah.org.tw
results explored by Bachus et al. [3] also showed that by the
application of a larger force to the drill, both maximum cortical
temperatures and their duration above 50 oC might be
effectively reduced. Allan et al. [4] reported that the
temperature rise of drilling bone was related to the amount of
drill wear. In addition, the finite element method is a useful
tool to simulate the drilling process [5, 6]. For example,
Davidson and James [5] developed thermo-mechanical
equations to predict heat generation due to drilling and were
coupled with a heat transfer finite element simulation to predict
the temperature rise in bone during drilling. It was found that
the drill speed, feed rate and drill diameter had the most
significant thermal impact while changes in drill helix angle,
point angle and bone thermal properties had relatively little
effect.
Although various studies have addressed the influence of
drilling on bone, these literatures contain only limited
information on the simulation of temperature rise and contact
stress in drill-bit-bone contact problems during drilling. In this
study, an elastic-plastic dynamic finite element model is used
to simulate the temperature rise in the bone during drilling.
Various initial temperatures of drill bit are investigated to
explore the effects of the parameter on the temperature rise and
the contact stress distribution of bone during drilling, because
the temperature of the drill bit may be still high after a high-
temperature aseptic process.
II. FINITE ELEMENT MODEL
In this study, an elastic-plastic three-dimensional dynamic
temperature-displacement finite element model is used to
simulate the process of a drill bit drilling through the bone. The
simulations are performed using the commercial finite element
package ABAQUS and the dynamic failure criterion is applied
to control the element removal. Figure 1 shows the geometrical
configuration of the drill bit and the bone contact model. The
diameter, point angle and helix angle of the drill bit used in this
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 Table I. Mechanical properties of drill bit and bone used in finite element
model

 Drill bit Bone [7,8]

3
Density (Kg/m ) 7840 1700

Young’s modulus (GPa) 210 13.8

Yielding strength (MPa) 608 85

Tensile strength (MPa) 1000 90

Specific heat (J/Kgഒ ) 490 1260

Poisson’s ratio 0.3 0.35

Conductivity (Watt/mഒ ) 47.7 0.38

Fig. 1. Geometrical configuration and finite element model of the drill bit and
the bone contact model
study are taken as 4 mm, 118 o and 30 o , respectively. The
region of interest is the immediate surroundings of the drill
hole. In which place, the temperature is the highest, and the
domain for the numerical simulation is chosen as a circular
disc. The diameter and the thickness of the bone are taken as 14
mm and 4 mm, respectively. The corresponding finite element
model is shown in Fig. 1. The contact behavior between the
drill bit and the bone is modeled using approximately 14811
contact elements in each simulation. The mesh is constructed
using eight-node three-dimensional brick elements. The finite
element model comprises a total of 42240 elements and 45738
nodes. To explore the effects of initial temperature of drill bit
on the temperature rise and contact stress distribution, the
simulations are performed using four initial temperature To , i.e.
30, 35, 40 and 67 oC . The drilling speed and the applied force
are taken as 900 rpm and 100 N, respectively. The initial
temperature of the bone is assumed as 35 oC . The mechanical
properties used in the finite element analysis are summarized in
Table 1. The initial contact point of the drill bit and the bone,
as shown in Fig. 1, is taken as the origin of the coordinate
system.
III. RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS
In the followings, all the results are taken from the position
of x=2 and y=0 mm, as shown in Fig. 1. Figure 2 plots the
variation in the temperature of bone vs. the drilling time for
four different initial temperatures of drill bit. The point
discussed is at z= 1 mm, i.e. at the bone surface. The profile of
the temperature distribution is similar to the experimental
results proposed by [9]. The results indicate that a drill bit
with a higher initial temperature results in a higher
temperature rise in the bone. The temperature at the bone can
reach 55 oC when the drill bit has an initial temperature of
67 oC . This may cause great damage to the bone. It also can
be seen that the temperature of the bone can be reduced about
2 oC during drilling if the drill bit has an initial temperature
of 30 oC .
60
Z = 1mm T o= 30¢J
55 900 RPM T o= 35¢J
T o= 40¢J
50 T o= 67¢J
45
40
35
30
0 2 4 6 8 10
Drill Time (s)
Fig. 2. Variation in temperature with the drill time for various initial
temperatures of drill bit at depth z= 0mm
The result of To =30 oC indicates that the temperature of the
bone is reduced initially, and, as the drilling time increases,
the temperature is slowly increased to the temperature of
35 oC . This can be attributed to that the contact frictional heat
created during drilling is absorbed by the drill bit.
Figure 3 shows the contours of the temperature distribution
in the bone for the drill bit with an initial temperature of 30 oC
and a drilling time of 4.4 sec. The results shown in Fig. 3
indicate that the temperature near the center region is lower
than the temperature at the surroundings because the drill bit
has a lower initial temperature. Figure 4 shows the variation in
the temperature of the bone at depth z= 3 mm for four different
initial temperatures of the drill bit. At this depth, the drill bit is
just drilling through the bone shell. Compare with Fig. 2, it can
be seen that the temperature in the bone at depth of z= 3 mm is
higher than the results shown in Fig. 2. The maximum
temperature is about 60 oC . Summarizing the above simulation
results, the relationship between the maximum temperature in
the bone and the initial temperature of the drill bit is presented
in Fig. 5. Figure 5 shows that the temperature of the bone, T,
presents approximately linear dependence on the initial
temperature of the drill bit, To . In this study, this relationship
can be approximated as the following equation:

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 (a) To =30 o
C

Fig. 3. Contours of the temperature distribution in the bone

60
(b) To =67 o
C
55 Fig. 6. von-Mises stress distribution in bone during drilling for a drill bit with
T o= 30 ¢J
T o= 35 ¢J different initial temperature
50 T o= 40 ¢J
T o= 67 ¢J T = 0.694 To + 12.67 o C (1)
45 Z = 3mm
900 RPM
It should be noted that Eq. (1) is valid only for the drilling
speed of 900 rpm and the applied force of 100 N. It can be
40
estimated from Eq. (1) that the bone temperature can reach
35 55 oC when the drill bit has an initial temperature of 60 oC
during drilling. Similar equations can also be established from
30
the proposed elastic-plastic dynamic finite element model for
0 2 4 6 8 10 other drilling speeds and applied forces.
Drill Time (s)
Figures 6(a) and (b) illustrate the contact von-Mises stress
Fig. 4. Variation in temperature with the drill time for various initial
temperatures of drill bit at depth z= 3mm
distribution in bone for the initial temperature of the drill bit
To = 30 and 67 oC , respectively. The drilling time shown in
63 Fig. 6 is 0.3 sec. The results show that the difference in von-
Mises stress distribution in bone during drilling is not obvious
58 for a drill bit with different initial temperatures. The drill bits
with three different rotating speeds, i.e. 600, 900 and 120 rpm,
53 are also explored. The applied force used in these cases is 100
N. Figure 7 shows the temperature distribution along the bone
48 depth for various rotating speeds of drill bit at depth z= 2mm.
The results indicate that a drill bit with a lower rotating speed
43 results in a higher temperature in the bone. Figures 8(a), (b)
and (c) show the contours of von-Mises stress distribution in
38 the bone during drilling for the rotating speed of 600, 900 and
1200 rpm, respectively. In this case, the initial temperature of
33 the drill bit is To = 67 oC and the drilling depth z is 1.2 mm. It
30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 70
Initial Temperature of Drill Bit (¢J)
can be seen that the maximum values of the von-Mises stress
obtained from the rotating speeds of 600, 900 and 1200 rpm are
89.9, 86.5 and 87.5 MPa, respectively. The rill bit with a lower
Fig. 5. Relationship between the maximum temperature in the bone and the rotating speed results in a higher von-Mises stress in the bone.
initial temperature of drill bit

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 40.0 V. CONCLUSION
39.5 z=2mm 600 RPM In this study, a three-dimensional elastic-plastic dynamic
39.0 900 RPM temperature-displacement finite element model is proposed to
38.5 1200 RPM simulate the process of a drill bit drilling through a bone. This
study has performed numerical investigations into the
38.0
temperature rise and the contact stress distribution in bone
37.5 during drilling. The effect of the initial temperature of drill bit
37.0 on the temperature rise has been examined. Based upon the
36.5 numerical results, the following conclusions can be drawn:
36.0 1. The proposed dynamic elastic-plastic finite element model
35.5 can be used to simulate the temperature rise during a drill
35.0
bit drilling through the bone.
0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0 3.5 4.0 2. A drill bit with a lower initial temperature can reduce the
Bone Depth Z (mm) temperature rise in bone during drilling.
Fig. 7. Variation in temperature vs. bone depth for various rotating speeds of
drill bit at depth z= 2mm 3. The temperature at the bone can reach 55 oC when the
drill bit has an initial temperature of 60 oC . This may
cause great damage to the bone.
4. A drill bit with a lower rotating speed results in a higher
temperature and von-Mises stress in the bone.
In future study, the mechanical properties of the bone and
the maximum temperature occurred in the bone during drilling
will be obtained from the experimental tests. The proposed
finite element model can thus be modified accordingly and will
be more accurate in temperature estimation.

REFERENCES
(a) 600 rpm
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[8] http://www.matweb.com
[9] N. Colin, I. Paul, and D. John, “ Orthopaedic bone drills-can they be
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(c) 1200 rpm
Fig. 8. von-Mises stress distribution in bone during drilling for various rotating
speeds

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