Study on the instantaneous cutting forces in bone oscillating sawing

Surgical oscillating saws often induce significant cutting forces when cutting bones, which reduce the accuracy and effectiveness of the surgery. Thus, keeping cutting forces steady and modest during bone sawing is vital. However, the influence of the periodic velocity variation and cut depth on the generated forces is unclear. In this study, a cutting mechanism of oscillating sawing was proposed to describe the cutting force variation at different depths per oscillation cycle. A single-tooth blade was used to investigate the instantaneous cutting forces at varying oscillation frequencies and depths of cut. The experiments show that linear velocity less affects cutting force after reaching a threshold. Furthermore, the cutting force has a linear relation with the depth of cut and maintains good consistency when the depth of cut is relatively large. In contrast, when the depth of cut is relatively low, the cutting forces vary at the same depth of cut.