Tribological Behavior of Articular Cartilage under Simulated Motion

The tribological behavior of bovine articular cartilage against stainless steel was evaluated by using an artificial knee joint simulation test bench in knee simulated motion. The influences of load and time on the tribological behavior of friction pair were investigated, and their worn surface was analyzed. The results showed that the width and depth of cracks in cartilage surface increased with the increase of the load from 640 to 1 000N. When time increased from 20 minutes to 1 h, the width and depth of cracks in cartilage surface increased. Iron was observed on the worn surface of articular cartilage ,indicating the material transfer. There were two kinds of wear particles, including metal wear particle in long strip shape and wear particle of cartilage composition in round shape.