Abstract
Corrosion at the taper/trunnion interface of total hip replacement (THR) often results in severe complications. However, the underlying mechanisms of biotribocorrosion at the taper/trunnion interface during the long-term walking gait cycles remain to be fully understood. In this study, a hip joint simulator was therefore instrumented with an electrochemical cell for in-situ monitoring of the tribocorrosion evolution in a metal-on-polyethylene (MoP) THR during a typical long-term walking gait. In addition, the biotribocorrosion mechanism was investigated via surface and chemical characterizations. The experimental results confirmed that the taper/trunnion interface dominated the contemporary MoP hip joint corrosion. Three cyclic variations in the open circuit potential (OCP) were observed throughout the long-term electrochemical measurements, attributed to the formation and disruption of the adsorbed protein layer. The corrosion exhibited an initial increase at each period, peaking at approximately 0.125 million cycles, followed by a subsequent gradual reduction. Surface and chemical analyses revealed the formation of a tribochemical reaction layer (tribolayer) on the worn surface of the taper/trunnion interface. The surface/chemical characterizations and the electrochemical measurements indicated that the adhesion force of the adsorbed protein layer was weaker than that of the tribolayer. In contrast, the opposite was true for the corrosion resistance. Based on the observations from this study, the tribocorrosion mechanism of the taper/trunnion interface under the long-term walking gait cycles is deduced.
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This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (52035012), the Science and Technology Planning Project of Sichuan Province (2020YJ0032), and the 111 Project (B20008).
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Shu YANG. He received his M.S. degree in mechanical engineering in 2013 from Imperial College London, London. Currently, he is a Ph.D. student in Southwest Jiaotong University, China. His research interests include wear and biotribocorrosion of hip prosthesis.
Jian PU. He received his M.S. degree in mechanical engineering in 2020 from Southwest Jiaotong University, China. Currently, he is a Ph.D. student in the Southwest Jiaotong University, China. His research interests include fretting wear and fretting corrosion of hip prosthesis.
Xiaogang ZHANG. He received his Ph.D. degree in mechanical engineering in 2017 from The University of New South Wales, Australia. He joined the Tribology Research Institute at Southwest Jiaotong University, China, as an assistant researcher in 2018. His current research interests focus on the musculoskeletal biomechanics and biotribology.
Yali ZHANG. She received her Ph.D. degree in mechanical engineering in 2013 from Xi’an Jiaotong University, China. She joined the School of Mechanical Engineering at Southwest Jiaotong University, China, as a lecturer in 2015. Her current research interests focus on the biotribology of artificial joints.
Zhongmin JIN. He received his Ph.D. degree in mechanical engineering in 1984 from University of Leeds, UK. He joined the School of Mechanical Engineering at Southwest Jiaotong University (SWJTU), China, from 2015. His current position is a professor and the dean of the SWJTU—Leeds Joint School. His current research interests include biotribology, biomechanics and medical devices, artificial joint design and manufacturing, and tissue engineering.
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Yang, S., Pu, J., Zhang, X. et al. A preliminary experimental investigation on the biotribocorrosion of a metal-on-polyethylene hip prosthesis in a hip simulator. Friction 11, 1094–1106 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40544-022-0655-0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40544-022-0655-0