Frictional Behavior of Natural Articular Cartilage against Ceramic Femoral Component by Reciprocating Rotation

Aiming at understanding the wear problem of hemiarthroplasty, the tribological properties of natural articular cartilage against hip joint ceramic material was carried out on the reciprocating tribometer. A combined motion of reciprocation and rotation , which is close to motion of the bionic movement was used. The influences of friction duration, load, speed and lubrication were investigated, and the morphology of worn surface was observed. As the load increased from 10 N to 22 N, the friction coefficient decreased from 0.068 to 0.049. As the speed increased from 10mm/s to 20mm/s, the friction coefficient increased from 0.068 to 0.093 at a load of 10 N. The hyaluronic acid solution as a lubricant effectively reduced friction. After the test, the surface roughness of worn cartilage surface was slightly higher than that of the unworn surface, and the wear patterns were mainly abrasive wear and surface fatigue wear.