Biological tribological properties between polyetheretherketone and patella cartilage

Abstract

Reciprocating sliding friction and wear tests were carried out on polyetheretherketone (PEEK) and natural patella cartilage using the pin-on-disk configuration at different normal loads, slipping velocity and friction pairs under 25% fetal bovine serum, where natural femoral cartilage and CoCrMo were used for comparison to PEEK. The influence of normal load, slipping velocity and friction pair on the friction and wear behavior was studied. The results show that under 25% fetal bovine serum conditions, the friction coefficient of femoral cartilage/patella cartilage is the smallest among that of PEEK/patella cartilage and CoCrMo/patella cartilage, the coefficient of friction of PEEK/patella is obviously lower than that of CoCrMo/patella and the wear surface of CoCrMo/patella is more seriously damaged than that of PEEK/patella. The friction coefficient of PEEK/patella decreases with the increase of normal load especially under the low loads (10-20N) and increases with the increase of slipping velocity especially under the high slipping velocity conditions (10-20mm/s). The wear surface damage increases with the increase of normal load and slipping velocity. The normal load is more effective than slipping velocity.

Keywords

• polyetheretherketone
• patella cartilage
• biological tribology
• abrasion mechanism