Long-term wear of ceramic matrix composite materials for hip prostheses under severe swing phase microseparation.
The purpose of this study was to evaluate the long-term wear performance of alumina matrix composite (AMC) heads against alumina matrix composite inserts and alumina matrix composite heads against alumina (Al) inserts with the use of a hip-joint simulator incorporating severe swing phase joint microseparation. The wear of AMC on Al produced an average wear rate of 0.61 mm3/million cycles over the 5-million-cycle test duration. The wear of AMC on AMC produced an average wear rate of 0.16 mm3/million cycles over the 5-million-cycle test duration. Both the AMC on alumina and AMC on AMC produced significantly lower wear than previously tested HIPed alumina, where an average wear rate of 1.84 mm3/million cycles was reported over 5 million cycles. The wear mechanisms and wear debris of AMC on AMC and AMC on Al were similar to those observed in previous alumina retrieval studies with stripe wear caused by intragranular fracture and wear debris consisting of predominantly uniform 10-20-nm-sized particles and a few irregular particles up to 3 microm in size.
Stewart
Todd D
TD
School of Mechanical Engineering, The University of Leeds, LS2 9JT, United Kingdom. T.D.Stewart@leeds.ac.uk
Tipper
Joanne L
JL
Insley
Gerard
G
Streicher
Robert M
RM
Ingham
Eileen
E
Fisher
John
J
D000537:Aluminum Oxide / Q000737:chemistry*; D002516:Ceramics / Q000737:chemistry*; D020099:Coated Materials, Biocompatible / Q000737:chemistry; D019544:Equipment Failure Analysis; D006621:Hip Joint / Q000033:anatomy & histology; D006622:Hip Prosthesis; D006801:Humans; D008422:Materials Testing; D011474:Prosthesis Design; D011475:Prosthesis Failure; D013499:Surface Properties
D020099:Coated Materials, Biocompatible; D000537:Aluminum Oxide