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Wear of novel ceramic‐on‐ceramic bearings under adverse and clinically relevant hip simulator conditions
Author(s) -
AlHajjar Mazen,
Jennings Louise M.,
Begand Sabine,
Oberbach Thomas,
Delfosse Daniel,
Fisher John
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
journal of biomedical materials research part b: applied biomaterials
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.665
H-Index - 108
eISSN - 1552-4981
pISSN - 1552-4973
DOI - 10.1002/jbm.b.32965
Subject(s) - materials science , ceramic , bearing (navigation) , composite material , cubic zirconia , fracture toughness , tribology , total hip replacement , medicine , surgery , geography , cartography
Further development of ceramic materials for total hip replacement aim to increase fracture toughness and further reduce the incidence of bearing fracture. Edge loading due to translational mal positioning (microseparation) has replicated stripe wear, wear rates, and bimodal wear debris observed on retrievals. This method has replicated the fracture of early zirconia ceramic‐on‐ceramic bearings. This has shown the necessity of introducing microseparation conditions to the gait cycle when assessing the tribological performance of new hip replacement bearings. Two novel ceramic matrix composite materials, zirconia‐toughened alumina (ZTA) and alumina‐toughened zirconia (ATZ), were developed by Mathys Orthopädie GmbH. In this study, ATZ‐on‐ATZ and ZTA‐on‐ZTA bearing combinations were tested and compared with alumina‐on‐alumina (Al 2 O 3 ‐on‐Al 2 O 3 ) bearings under adverse microseparation and edge loading conditions using the Leeds II physiological anatomical hip joint simulator. The wear rate (±95% confidence limit) of ZTA‐on‐ZTA was 0.14 ± 0.10 mm 3 /million cycles and that of ATZ‐on‐ATZ was 0.06 ± 0.004 mm 3 /million cycles compared with a wear rate of 0.74 ± 1.73 mm 3 /million cycles for Al 2 O 3 ‐on‐Al 2 O 3 bearings. Stripe wear was evident on all bearing combinations; however, the stripe formed on the ATZ and ZTA femoral heads was thinner and shallower that that formed on the Al 2 O 3 heads. Posttest phase composition measurements for both ATZ and ZTA materials showed no significant change in the monoclinic zirconia content. ATZ‐on‐ATZ and ZTA‐on‐ZTA showed superior wear resistance properties when compared with Al 2 O 3 ‐on‐Al 2 O 3 under adverse edge loading conditions. © 2013 The Authors Journal of Biomedical Materials Research Part B: Applied Biomaterials Published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc., 101B: 1456–1462, 2013.