Tribological behaviour of amorphous carbon coatings for total knee arthroplasty

Rothammer B, Neusser K, Tremmel S, Bartz M, Wartzack S (2021)


Publication Language: English

Publication Type: Conference contribution, Conference Contribution

Publication year: 2021

Event location: Online

URI: https://www.archiv.mfk.tf.fau.de?file=pubmfk_60829043ad38b

Abstract

Endoprosthetic replacement of the joint intends to restore the functionality and to provide the patient with a pain-free and more mobile life. However, aseptic loosening of the total knee arthroplasty (TKA) is a major cause of early prosthesis failure and is multifactorial in etiology with wear debris removed from the implant materials being largely responsible.

For this reason, a great effort is made to reduce polymeric inlay wear by applying tribologically effective surface modifications. Thus, this study concentrated on the deposition of wear-reducing amorphous carbon coating systems with good adhesion to the materials Co28Cr6Mo and PE-UHMW used for medical technology applications by means of physical vapour deposition (PVD) and plasma-enhanced chemical vapour deposition (PECVD). The tribological effectiveness of the carbon coating systems can be particularly be enhanced by a good adhesion to the substrate. Therefore, specific attention was also paid to the investigation of adhesion. The tribological behaviour of the coated material pairings in comparison to the uncoated pairings was investigated utilizing a clima-controlled pin-on-disc tribometer in rotational sliding mode. The tribological behaviour was studied under mixed friction conditions for a total number of 200 000 sliding cycles. A bovine serum, tempered to 37 °C, was used as a substitute synovial fluid. The wear rates were determined using light and laser scanning microscopy every 20 000 cycles. Thereby, various wear mechanisms were detected, which in turn affected the coefficient of friction. The strong wear traces on PE-UHMW indicated abrasive and adhesive wear.

Consequently, the present study showed the applicability of well-adhering coatings to the considered materials used for applications in medical technology and the potential for wear reduction. Furthermore, the tribometric characteristics obtained serve as a basis for further development of the coating systems.


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APA:

Rothammer, B., Neusser, K., Tremmel, S., Bartz, M., & Wartzack, S. (2021). Tribological behaviour of amorphous carbon coatings for total knee arthroplasty. In Proceedings of the 5th International Conference on BioTribology. Online.

MLA:

Rothammer, Benedict, et al. "Tribological behaviour of amorphous carbon coatings for total knee arthroplasty." Proceedings of the 5th International Conference on BioTribology, Online 2021.

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