A basic study on friction and wear of materials to use for the resurfacing of hip joints

Abstract

Hip replacement arthroplasties have been increasing in number as the number of patients with coxarthrosis is increasing. Prosthetic hip joints used for surface replacement with metal-metal contact are considered to be an effective choice for bone preservation. However, it has been shown that the metal-metal contact type of prosthetic hip joint could be toxic to human cells when powder from the abrasion of the Co-Cr alloy, a component of the joint, is ionized. We examined abrasion resistance and the elution of the metal ions about ceramic-coated metal pieces of the Co-Cr alloy using the Pin-On-Disk abrasion test method with a pseudo body fluid. As a result, the metal pieces with DLC coating showed the best performance in terms of their friction coefficient, abrasion resistance, and elution property of the ions.