Hyper-elastic modelling of intervertebral disc polyurethane implant

Artificial materials including various kinds of polymers like polyurethanes are more and more widely used in different branches of science and also in biomedical engineering. The paper presents the process of creating a constitutive equation for a polyurethane nanocomposite which is considered to be hyper-elastic. The constitutive modelling was conducted within the range of application of the material as one of the components of lumbar intervertebral disc prosthesis. In the paper, the biomechanics of the lumbar spine and the most frequently applied intervertebral disc prostheses are described. Also a polyurethane nanocomposite as a new material to be applied in prostheses is presented. The way of formulating a constitutive equation by means of mathematical formulae is described. Four various hyper-elastic potential functions are considered, i.e., Ogden, Neo-Hookean, Yeoh and Mooney–Rivlin. On the basis of monotonic compression tests the best hyper-elastic model for the material considered was chosen and hyper-elastic constants were calibrated. Finally, the constitutive model was validated on the basis of FE analysis. The paper ends with a conclusion and presentation of further plans of research directed towards the development of a constitutive equation and its application in computer simulations by means of the finite element method.