Hip Impingement Testing
Test method for hip impingement testing. Under dynamic impingement conditions, acetabular component fatigue, acetabular liner deformation and wear, as well as femoral head dislocation are evaluated. Samples are tested in 0.2 million cycle intervals until failure, or to a maximum of 1.0 million cycles. The reference position of each sample may need adjustment at each interval to ensure impingement contact is consistent. There are two methods for performing this test. Method I (2014): Three samples are tested under impingement, and three samples are tested without impingement and used as reference samples. The reference samples provide wear results without impingement. Wear measurements are performed at each interval. Method II (in development): Three samples are tested under impingement with no reference samples. Acetabular liners are assessed at each interval for acceptable and unacceptable damaged modes as well as evidence of liner separation or loosening.