Ceramic femoral heads are now widely used in Total Hip Replacement (THR). Due to their high biocompatibility and low ductility, ceramic femoral heads are considered to be suitable for young and active patients. However, as in testing the mechanical stability of the femoral head, the conventional proof test (standard ISO 7206-10) has its limit of showing axisymmetric stress distribution on the contact surface, while non-uniformed stress distribution is expected after THR. Since non-uniformed stress distribution can result in the increased probability of ceramic femoral head fracture, it is considerable to evaluate the stress distribution in vivo-like conditions. Therefore, this study simulated the ceramic femoral heads under in vivo-like conditions using finite element method. The maximum stress decreased when increasing the size of the femoral head and stress distribution was concentrated on superior contact surface of the taper region.
