Tribological assessment of a flexible carbon-fibre-reinforced poly(ether-ether-ketone) acetabular cup articulating against an alumina femoral head.

New material combinations have been introduced as the bearing surfaces of hip prostheses in an attempt to prolong their life by overcoming the problems of failure due to wear-particle-induced osteolysis. This will hopefully reduce the need for revision surgery. The study detailed here used a hip simulator to assess the volumetric wear rates of large-diameter carbon-fibre-reinforced pitch-based poly(ether-ether-ketone) (CFR-PEEK) acetabular cups articulating against alumina femoral heads. The joints were tested for 25 x 10(6) cycles. Friction tests were also performed on these joints to determine the lubrication regime under which they operate. The average volumetric wear rate of the CFR-PEEK acetabular component of 54 mm diameter was 1.16 mm(3)/10(6) cycles, compared with 38.6 mm(3)/10(6) cycles for an ultra-high-molecular-weight polyethylene acetabular component of 28 mm diameter worn against a ceramic head. This extremely low wear rate was sustained over 25 x 10(6) cycles (the equivalent of up to approximately 25 years in vivo). The frictional studies showed that the joints worked under the mixed-boundary lubrication regime. The low wear produced by these joints showed that this novel joint couple offers low wear rates and therefore may be an alternative material choice for the reduction of osteolysis.

A frictional study of total hip joint replacements.

Polymeric wear debris produced by articulation of the femoral head against the ultra-high-molecular-weight polyethylene socket of a total hip replacement has been implicated as the main cause of osteolysis and subsequent failure of these implants. Potential solutions to this problem are to employ hard bearing surface combinations such as metal-on-metal or ceramic-on-ceramic prostheses. The aim of this study was to investigate the difference in lubrication modes and friction of a range of material combinations using synthetic and biological fluids as the lubricants. The experimental results were compared with theoretical predictions of film thicknesses and lubrication modes. A strong correlation was observed between experiment and theory when employing carboxy methyl cellulose (CMC) fluids as the lubricant. Under these conditions the ceramic-on-ceramic joints showed full fluid film lubrication while the metal-on-metal, metal-on-plastic, diamond-like carbon-coated stainless steel (DLC)-on-plastic and ceramic-on-plastic prostheses operated under a mixed lubrication regime. With bovine serum as the lubricant in the all ceramic joints, however, the full fluid film lubrication was inhibited due to adsorbed proteins. In the metal-on-metal joints this adsorbed protein layer acted to reduce the friction while in the ceramic coupling the friction was increased. The use of bovine serum as the lubricant also significantly increased the friction in both the metal-on-plastic and ceramic-on-plastic joints. The friction produced by the DLC-on-plastic joints depended on the quality of the coating. Those joints with a less consistent coating and therefore a higher surface roughness gave significantly higher friction than the smoother, more consistently coated heads.

Comparison of friction and lubrication of different hip prostheses.

It is well documented that an important cause of osteolysis and subsequent loosening of replacement hip joints is polyethylene wear debris. To avoid this, interest has been renewed in metal-on-metal and ceramic-on-ceramic prostheses. Various workers have assessed the lubrication modes of different joints by measuring the friction at the bearing surfaces, using different lubricants. Measurements of friction factors of a series of hip prostheses were undertaken using carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) fluids, silicone fluids, synovial fluid and different concentrations of bovine serum as the lubricant. The experimental results were compared with theoretical predictions of film thicknesses and lubrication modes. A strong correlation was observed between experiment and theory when employing CMC fluids or silicone fluids as the lubricant. Mixed lubrication was found to occur in the metal-on-metal (CoCrMo/CoCrMo) joints with all lubricants at a viscosity within the physiological range. This was also the case for the metal-on-plastic (CoCrMo/ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene) joints. The ceramic-on-ceramic (Al2O3/Al2O3) joints, however, exhibited full fluid film lubrication with the synthetic lubricants but mixed lubrication with the biological lubricants. Employing a biological fluid as the lubricant affected the friction to varying degrees when compared with the synthetic lubricants. In the case of the ceramic-on-ceramic joints it acted to increase the friction factor tenfold; however, for the metal-on-metal joints, biological fluids gave slightly lower friction than the synthetic lubricants did. This suggests that, when measuring friction and wear of artificial joints, a standard lubricant should be used.