Comparison of Biotribology of Swine Compact Bone Against UHMWPE

A pin-on-disk tribometer was used, in a comparative test to observe the tribological behavior of the swine femoral bone against UHMWPE with dry friction, physiological water and human plasma lubrication. The wear mechanisms of swine bones and UHMWPE were investigated by SEM. The experimental results of these wear tests demonstrated that both the friction coefficient and wear rate of UHMWPE were the lowest when human plasma lubrication was used. The wear mechanism of the compact bone was mainly fatigue wear with dry friction, corrosive wear under physiological water lubrication and abrasive wear with human plasma lubrication. For UHMWPE, the wear mechanism was adhesive wear and plastic deformation with dry friction, serious ploughing and fatigue fracture wear under physiological water lubrication, fine ploughing and plastic deformation with human plasma lubrication. An analysis of nitrogen elements on the wear surface of UHMWPE indicated that the content of nitrogen in worn areas was 16 times higher than that in unworn areas, which proved that serum protein deposition occurred on worn areas.