Fabrication and Wear Test of a Continuous Fiber/Particulate Composite Total Surface Hip Replacement

Abstract

Continuous fiber woven E-glass/epoxy composite femoral shells having the same elastic properties as bone have been fabricated. These shells were coated with filled epoxy wear-resistant coatings consisting of 1 to 64 micron particles of: Al₂O₃, Al₂O₃ + Cu, and 18–8 stainless steel + Al₂O₃ in an epoxy matrix. The resulting femoral shells were wear tested dry against ultrahigh-molecular-weight polyethylene (UHMWPE) acetabular cups for up to 250 000 cycles on a total hip simulator. The best femoral shell tested was the one containing particles of 18–8 stainless steel + Al₂O₃ in an epoxy base. Articulation of this shell dry against UHMWPE for 250 000 cycles resulted in a friction force that was about 10 percent lower than that of the current total hip prosthesis; that is, a vitallium ball articulating dry with an UHMWPE cup. An UHMWPE acetabular cup when articulating with a vitallium ball showed a weight loss of 0.0004 gram, while an UHMWPE cup when articulating with the 18–8 stainless steel + Al₂O₃ epoxy shell in the 250 000 cycle wear test showed a 0.0058 gram weight loss. Addition of graphite fibers to the UHMWPE acetabular cup and articulation with the 18–8 stainless steel + Al₂O₃ epoxy shell increased the friction force but reduced the surface damage to the UHMWPE. When femoral shells containing Al₂O₃ + Cu particles in an expoxy matrix were run dry against UHMWPE for 42 000 cycles, the friction force was continually increasing and there was evidence of more surface damage to the UHMWPE cup than when the shell contained particles of 18–8 stainless steel + Al₂O₃.

Presented as an American Society of Lubrication Engineers paper at the ASLE/ASME Lubrication Conference in New Orleans, Louisiana, October 5–7, 1981

Notes

Presented as an American Society of Lubrication Engineers paper at the ASLE/ASME Lubrication Conference in New Orleans, Louisiana, October 5–7, 1981