Heat Generation During Abrasive Water-Jet Osteotomies Measured by Thermocouples

Water-jet technology is known in industry as a cold-cutting process because no significant thermal effects are observed at the cutting edges of e.g., metallic workpieces. Thus, water jets are mostly used for applications where no structural changes are allowed. For medical applications the critical temperature is much lower than for industrial use, because bones react very sensitively to heat. The damage to the tissue depends on the temperature and the time of exposure. The tissue is irreversibly destroyed after a period of approximately 10 seconds at 57 deg C. To avoid this effect, which causes the so-called necrosis formation, and which results in poor bone healing, heat management is required for water-jet osteotomies. The first step is made in this paper The heat generation during abrasive water-jet osteotomies was measured by thermocouples that were inserted into the cortical hollow bone segments of cattle. The influence of parameters like pressure, traverse rate, abrasive flow rate and abrasive material are shown in this paper together with the influence of the location of thermocouples, which represents an increment of the bone tissue.