title: Wear characteristics of ceramic-on-ceramic for hip endoprostheses.
abstract: Femoral ball heads of aluminium oxide or zirconium oxide ceramics are used for total hip replacement. This application is based on their attractive tribological properties. Standard and state-of-the-art are femoral ball heads made of alumina (Al2O3) articulating against acetabular cups of polyethylene (PE-UHMW) and zirconia (Y-TZP) heads articulating against polyethylene cups. A very attractive wear couple is ceramic-on-ceramic. Some of the various ceramic combinations have been tested using the ring-on-disc method according to ISO 6474. The combination alumina/alumina was found to produce extremely low wear; catastrophic wear was found for the combinations alumina/Y-TZP and Y-TZP/Y-TZP.
authors.affiliation: Clinic for Experimental Surgery, Technical University Munich, Germany.
authors.forename: H J
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Früh
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Willmann
authors.forename: H G
authors.initials: HG
authors.lastname: Pfaff
mesh_terms: D000537:Aluminum Oxide; D002516:Ceramics; D006622:Hip Prosthesis; D006801:Humans; D066298:In Vitro Techniques; D008422:Materials Testing; D008855:Microscopy, Electron, Scanning; D011475:Prosthesis Failure; D013499:Surface Properties; D015040:Zirconium
chemical_list: D015040:Zirconium; D000537:Aluminum Oxide; C028541:zirconium oxide