[Importance of the friction between plate and bone in the anchoring of plates for osteosynthesis. Determination of the coefficient of metal-bone friction in animal in vivo].

In mechanical devices in general the friction plays an important role in force transmission. To find out about the magnitude of frictional forces between internal fixation plate and bone in vivo, simultaneous strain recording in plated bone and instrumented plate were performed. After 3 weeks of implantation the torque applied to a single plate-screw was set to definite levels. Thus it could be determined at what level of screw compression and at what tangential load of the related surface bone-plate, gliding occurred. The coefficient of friction was found to be 0.2 +/- 0.09 (x +/- Sx). It can be concluded that in vivo friction produced at the plate-bone contact surface is able to guarantee stability of fixation.