Document Type

Article

Date of Original Version

2018

Abstract

Materials commonly found in hip replacements are a polymer paired with metals or alloys. Tribological behavior of polyethylene bearing surfaces against synthetic sapphire are compared against other bearing combinations to evaluate sapphire as a viable means to lower the incidence of revision surgery by mitigating production of wear debris. Sapphire disks against polyethylene plates were tested utilizing a tribometer. The polyethylene wear rate was found to be 22.6mm3 per year, less than the 40-80mm3 per year typically found in traditional hip replacements. A power law function is presented correlating a decreasing friction coefficient as polyethylene volume loss increases as V0.88. These results show potential for synthetic sapphire as an alternative bearing surface in joint replacements

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

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