Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Birmingham, Birmingham B15 2TT, UK.
Med Eng Phys. 2020 Sep;83:1-6. doi: 10.1016/j.medengphy.2020.07.005. Epub 2020 Jul 15.
Understanding the tribological behaviour of articular cartilage enables the development of effective replacement biomaterials. This study presents a technique for the investigation of the frictional torque of articular cartilage, for the assessment of replacement biomaterials. A calcium alginate hydrogel was used as the biomaterial for this study. Three different specimen types were examined to include articular cartilage, calcium alginate hydrogel, alone, and in combination with articular cartilage. An axial load, varying from 10 to 100 N, was applied to the specimen and the frictional torque measured whilst an indenter underwent axial rotation from 0° to 2° to 0° for 100 cycles. The resulting frictional torque magnitude was evaluated with a smooth curve fitting function. Linear regression identified a statistically significant relationship between torque magnitude and axial load (p < 0.05) for all specimen variations. From 10 to 100 N of applied load, mean torque magnitude ranged from 0.08±0.010 to 0.11±0.013 N m, 0.08±0.012 to 0.09±0.016 N m and 0.07±0.017 to 0.09±0.020 N m (mean ± standard deviation), for articular cartilage, calcium alginate separately and in combination with articular cartilage, respectively. This study has established a suitable frictional torque testing protocol for potential cartilage replacement biomaterials.
了解关节软骨的摩擦学行为可以开发出有效的替代生物材料。本研究提出了一种用于研究关节软骨摩擦扭矩的技术，用于评估替代生物材料。本研究使用钙藻酸盐水凝胶作为生物材料。检查了三种不同的标本类型，包括关节软骨、单独的钙藻酸盐水凝胶以及与关节软骨的组合。对标本施加 10 至 100 N 的轴向载荷，并在压头从 0°到 2°再到 0°进行 100 次轴向旋转的过程中测量摩擦扭矩。使用平滑曲线拟合函数评估所得摩擦扭矩的大小。线性回归确定了所有标本变化之间扭矩大小与轴向载荷之间存在统计学上显著的关系（p < 0.05）。在 10 至 100 N 的应用载荷下，平均扭矩大小范围分别为 0.08±0.010 至 0.11±0.013 N m、0.08±0.012 至 0.09±0.016 N m 和 0.07±0.017 至 0.09±0.020 N m（平均值±标准偏差），分别为关节软骨、单独的钙藻酸盐水凝胶以及与关节软骨的组合。本研究建立了一种适用于潜在软骨替代生物材料的摩擦扭矩测试方案。
