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Lookup NU author(s): Professor Tom Joyce, Goksu KandemirORCiD
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).
© 2024 The AuthorsThe history of joint replacement can be framed as a battle to reduce wear. Pyrocarbon has been shown to be a low wear material, but can low wear against an ultra high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE) counterface be achieved? To investigate this research question, a 50-station, clinically validated wear screening machine was used. Half the stations tested UHMWPE pins against pyrocarbon discs, and half the stations tested UHMWPE pins against cobalt chromium (CoCr) discs. The test rig ran at 1Hz, the nominal contact stress was 2.07 MPa, and testing ran to 5 million cycles. A biomimetic lubricant was used, it was replaced every 500,000 cycles. At the end of testing, the UHMWPE pins rubbing against pyrocarbon discs had a statistically significant reduced wear, compared with the UHMWPE pins rubbing against CoCr discs (p ≤ 0.01). Analysis of the discs at the end of testing showed greater adherence of phospholipids on the pyrocarbon discs than the CoCr discs. In turn, it was also seen that far less UHMWPE was attached to the pyrocarbon discs than to the CoCr discs. Based on this evidence, it is suggested that pyrocarbon surfaces are associated with reduced adhesive wear of UHMWPE compared with CoCr surfaces. In addition, at the end of testing, the CoCr discs were found to be significantly rougher than the pyrocarbon discs. Therefore, pyrocarbon maintained a smoother surface than CoCr, likely meaning that abrasive wear of UHMWPE was reduced compared with CoCr.
Author(s): Joyce TJ, Ouenzerfi G, Kandemir G, Trail I, Massardier V, Othmani R, Schroder AP, Granjon T, Hassler M, Trunfio-Sfarghiu A-M
Publication type: Article
Publication status: Published
Journal: Journal of the Mechanical Behavior of Biomedical Materials
Year: 2024
Volume: 160
Print publication date: 01/12/2024
Online publication date: 09/10/2024
Acceptance date: 05/10/2024
Date deposited: 28/10/2024
ISSN (print): 1751-6161
ISSN (electronic): 1878-0180
Publisher: Elsevier Ltd
URL: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jmbbm.2024.106768
DOI: 10.1016/j.jmbbm.2024.106768
Data Access Statement: The authors do not have permission to share data.
PubMed id: 39406038
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