In vitro friction and lubrication of large bearing hip prostheses.

New material combinations and designs of artificial hip implants are being introduced in an effort to improve proprioception and functional longevity. Larger joints in particular are being developed to improve joint stability, and it is thought that these larger implants will be more satisfactory for younger and more physically active patients. The study detailed here used a hip friction simulator to assess the friction and lubrication properties of large-diameter hip bearings of metal-on-metal and ceramic-on-reinforced-polymer couplings. Joints of different diameters were evaluated to determine what effect, if any, bearing diameter had on lubrication. In addition, the effects of lubricant type are considered, using carboxymethyl cellulose and bovine calf serum, and the physiological lubricant is shown to be considerably more effective at reducing friction. The frictional studies showed that the metal-on-metal joints worked under a mixed lubrication regime, producing similar friction factor values to each other. The addition of bovine calf serum (BCS) reduced the friction. The ceramic-on-reinforced-polymer samples were shown to operate with high friction factors and mixed lubrication. When tested with BCS, the larger-diameter bearings showed a decrease in friction compared with the smaller-size bearings, and the addition of BCS resulted in an increase in friction, unlike the metal-on-metal system. The study demonstrated that the component's diameter had little or no influence on the lubrication and friction of the large bearing combinations tested.