Tribological characterization of all-polymer prosthesis based on multi-directional motion

Abstract

The complex movement of artificial joints is closely related to the wear mechanism of the prosthesis material, especially for the polymer prosthesis, which is sensitive to motion paths. In this paper, the “soft-soft” all-polymer of XLPE/PEEK are selected to study the influence of motion paths on the friction and wear performance. Based on the periodic characteristics of friction coefficient and wear morphology, this paper reveals the friction and wear mechanism of XLPE/peek under multi-directional motion path, and obtains the quantitative relationship between friction coefficient and the aspect ratios of “∞”-shape motion path, which is of great significance to reveal and analyze the wear mechanism of “soft” all-polymer under multi-directional motion path. The results show that the friction coefficient is affected by the motion paths and have periodicity. Morever, under the multi-directional motion paths, the wear of PEEK are mainly abrasive wear and adhesive wear due to the cross shear effect, while the wear of XLPE is mainly abrasive wear with plastic accumulation. In addition, the friction coefficient is greatly affected the aspect ratios Rs-l of “∞”-shape and loads. Meanwhile, the wear morphologies are greatly affected by the aspect ratios Rs-l of “∞”-shape, but less affected by loads.