The lubrication performance of the ceramic-on-ceramic hip implant under starved conditions. (October 2015)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Meng, Qingen; Wang, Jing; Yang, Peiran; Jin, Zhongmin; Fisher, John
• Is Part Of: Journal of the mechanical behavior of biomedical materials. Volume 50(2015)
• Page Start: 70
• Page End: 76
• Publication Date: 2015-10
• Subjects: Ceramic-on-ceramic -- Hip implant -- Lubrication -- Starvation -- Tribology; Biomedical materials -- Periodicals; Biomedical materials -- Mechanical properties -- Periodicals; Biomedical materials; Biomedical materials -- Mechanical properties; Periodicals; Electronic journals; 610.28
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jmbbm.2015.06.001
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1751-6161

Abstract

Abstract: Lubrication plays an important role in the clinical performance of the ceramic-on-ceramic (CoC) hip implant in terms of reducing wear and avoiding squeaking. All the previous lubrication analyses of CoC hip implants assumed that synovial fluid was sufficiently supplied to the contact area. The aim of this study was to investigate the lubrication performance of the CoC hip implant under starved conditions. A starved lubrication model was presented for the CoC hip implant. The model was solved using multi-grid techniques. Results showed that the fluid film thickness of the CoC hip implant was affected by fluid supply conditions: with the increase in the supplied fluid layer, the lubrication film thickness approached to that of the fully blooded solution; when the available fluid layer reduced to some level, the fluid film thickness considerably decreased with the supplying condition. The above finding provides new insights into the lubrication performance of hip implants.