Department of Metallurgy and Materials Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Malta, Msida, MSD 2080, Malta.
Department of Metallurgy and Materials Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Malta, Msida, MSD 2080, Malta.
J Mech Behav Biomed Mater. 2023 Jun;142:105882. doi: 10.1016/j.jmbbm.2023.105882. Epub 2023 May 2.
Ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE) is commonly used as soft-bearing material in total joint replacements. However, the release of polymeric wear debris is still related to complications leading to aseptic loosening. Recently, a novel hip prosthesis showing reduced wear was developed by the authors of this study, consisting of unidirectional cylindrical articulations instead of the conventional multidirectional ball-and-socket design. This study evaluates four different theoretical wear models applied to this new design. The calculated volumetric wear was compared to experimental results. Although all models provided a good indication of the wear rates for the ball-and-socket prosthesis, they exhibited high discrepancies when predicting the amount of wear of the new unidirectional design. It was observed that the closest agreement with experimental results was obtained by the models that consider the friction-induced molecular orientation phenomenon exhibited by UHMWPE.
超高分子量聚乙烯（UHMWPE）通常用作全关节置换中的软质轴承材料。然而，聚合物磨屑的释放仍与导致无菌性松动的并发症有关。最近，本研究的作者开发了一种新型髋关节假体，其显示出减少的磨损，由单向圆柱形关节代替传统的多向球窝设计。本研究评估了四种不同的理论磨损模型在这种新设计中的应用。计算的体积磨损与实验结果进行了比较。虽然所有模型都对球窝假体的磨损率提供了很好的指示，但在预测新型单向设计的磨损量时，它们表现出很大的差异。观察到与实验结果最吻合的是考虑到 UHMWPE 表现出的摩擦诱导分子取向现象的模型。
