Comparison of wear behaviors for an artificial cervical disc under flexion/extension and axial rotation motions

• Ball-on-socket rather than ball-on-plat was adopted in contact configuration.
• The dimensional parameters of ball-on-socket were based on a cervical prosthesis.
• Both single-directional (FE, AR) and multi-directional motions were studied.
• Wear simulation was performed for 1.5 MC based on ISO 18192-1 testing standard.
• FE motion showed linear wear scratches while arc-shaped wear tracks in AR motion.

The wear behaviors of a ball-on-socket (UHMWPE-on-Ti6Al4V) artificial cervical disc were studied with 1.5 MC (million cycles) wear simulation under single flexion/extension and axial rotation motion and their composite motion. The wear rates, wear traces, and contact stress were analyzed and contrasted based on mass loss, optical microscopy and SEM as well as 3D profilometer, and ANSYS software, respectively. A much higher wear rate and more severe wear scars appeared under multi-directional motion. Flexion/extension motion of 7.5° lead to more severe wear than that under axial rotation motion of 4°. The above results were closely related to the contact compression stress and shear stress. The wear surface in FE motion showed typical linear wear scratches while revealing obvious arc-shaped wear tracks in AR motion. However, the central zone of both ball and socket components revealed more severe wear tracks than that in the edge zone under these two different motions. The dominant wear mechanism was plowing/scratching and abrasive wear as well as a little oxidation wear for the titanium socket while it was scratching damage with adhesive wear and fatigue wear due to plastic deformation under cyclic load and motion profiles for the UHMWPE ball.