Design of a lumbar intervertebral disc prosthetic using solid state rubber metal laminate bearing

Degenerative Disc disease is a commonly occurring ailment in patients all across the world. The intervertebral disc looses its moisture content and is no longer capable of performing its functions. One of the possible treatment to this disease it disc replacement with an intervertebral disc prosthetic (IDP). The IDP options for this treatment that are available in the market have a few shortcomings. A study of the state of the art and the requirements of the prosthetic are presented here. A new design of an IDP using the concept of solid state rubber-metal laminate bearings is proposed and tested. Rubber-metal laminates convert the movement with static friction between two sliding surfaces to elastic deformation of an elastomer. This proves to be extremely helpful in applications wherein the two surfaces are under high compressive load and have small movements between them, where current lubrication techniques are not very efficient.; The thesis presents a feasibility work and proof-of-concept of such a design of an IDP using a crash test dummy application.