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Tribological evaluation of hydrogel articulations for joint arthroplasty applications
Journal article   Peer reviewed

Tribological evaluation of hydrogel articulations for joint arthroplasty applications

D Baykal, J S Day, D J Jaekel, J Katta, K Mansmann and S M Kurtz
Journal of the mechanical behavior of biomedical materials, v 14
Oct 2012
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jmbbm.2012.05.012
PMID: 22963745
Featured in Collection :   UN Sustainable Development Goals @ Drexel

Abstract

Arthroplasty Biocompatible Materials Friction Hydrogels Joints - surgery Materials Testing Prostheses and Implants Surface Properties
Characterizing the wear behavior of hydrogel articulations is problematic and a standardized method has not yet been developed. The aims of this study were to evaluate the wear resistance of hydrogel-on-hydrogel articulations and to assess the suitability of a submerged measurement technique as a practical and non-destructive method in quantifying their wear rates. Five hydrogel bearings were tested for 5 million cycles using a pin-on-disk tester. As the test progressed, the coefficient of friction increased (Spearman's rho=0.76; p<0.001) while the surfaces of the pins were burnished (Spearman's rho=-0.31; p<0.001) and those of the disks got rougher (Spearman's rho=0.19; p<0.01). Environmental scanning electron microscopy analysis showed no evidence of gross wear and revealed similar surface morphology between contacting and non-contacting regions of specimens. These results support the finding of low wear, which were -1.4±8.3 and 6.6±35.3mm(3)/MC based on submerged and wet weights, respectively. Pins displayed higher wear than disks based on submerged weights. This was anticipated since surfaces of pins were constantly under load and cross-shear while only a portion of the disk in contact with the pin was loaded at a given time. Wet weights, on the other hand, indicated higher wear for disks than pins. In addition, submerged weights yielded a lower standard error of the mean in wear rates than wet weights, 3.7 and 14.6mm(3)/MC, respectively. These results indicated that submerged weights were more suitable than wet weights in quantifying wear of hydrogels in spite of unwanted effects of swelling.

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7 citations in Web of Science
8 citations in Scopus

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Web of Science research areas
Engineering, Biomedical
Materials Science, Biomaterials
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