Tribological Characterization of Surface Treated Commercially Pure Titanium for Femoral Heads in Total Hip Replacement - A Feasibility Study

Most not cemented total hip replacements combine a titanium alloy stem, a CoCrMo femoral head and an ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE) acetabular cup. In spite of its nickel content of up to 1% and the resulting biocompatibility issues in some clinical situations, the higher cost and some difficulties in machining, CoCrMo alloy is preferred to titanium alloys thanks to its outstanding tribological properties, higher hardness and elastic modulus. Nowadays most of the heads of hip prostheses use CoCrMo as bearing material. The present study investigates the effect of various surface treatments and combinations of treatments, such as electrochemical oxidation (anodization), laser surface melting and barrel polishing, on the tribological properties of commercially pure grade 2 titanium. The aim of the study was to characterize surface treatments capable of improving the tribological properties of titanium surface to the same extent of CoCrMo. The tribological properties were characterized by multidirectional pin-on-flat screening wear tests, using UHMWPE pins as bearing surface. The experiments showed the possibility to improve the wear resistance of titanium to the CoCrMo extent. Although further efforts will be required to optimize the experimented treatments, the results are encouraging to pursue this direction of investigation .

COTOGNO Giulio;  HOLZWARTH Uwe;  FRANCHI M.;  RIVETTI Stefania;  CHIESA R.; 

2007-01-29

WICHTIG EDITORE

JRC34633

https://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/handle/JRC34633,