title: Designing prosthetic knee joints with bio-inspired bearing surfaces.
abstract: It has long been known that articular cartilage exhibits a surface microtexture with shallow indentations. By contrast, prosthetic joints consist of ultra-smooth bearing surfaces, the longevity of which does not reach that of natural cartilage. We show that adding a microtexture to the smooth femoral component of a prosthetic knee joint reduces friction by increasing the lubricant film thickness between the bearing surfaces of the knee. We have implemented an elastohydrodynamic lubrication model to optimize the geometry of the microtexture, while taking into account the deformation of the polyethylene tibial insert. We have manufactured several microtexture designs on a surrogate femoral component, and experimentally demonstrate that the microtexture reduces friction between the surrogate femoral component and tibial insert.
authors: Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT 84112, USA.
authors: Mingfeng
authors: M
authors: Qiu
authors: Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT 84112, USA.
authors: Anthony
authors: A
authors: Chyr
authors: Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT 84112, USA ; Ortho Development Corp., Draper, UT 84020, USA.
authors: Anthony P
authors: AP
authors: Sanders
authors: Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT 84112, USA.
authors: Bart
authors: B
authors: Raeymaekers
keywords: articular cartilage; prosthetic knee joint; surface microtexture