RESISTANCE OF ALUMINA MATRIX COMPOSITE TO THIRD BODY WEAR DAMAGE

IntroductionThird body wear caused by contaminated bearing environment with debris that may have been generated by a worn or fractured revised bearing coupling, but also originated by generation of metal/cement particles during the primary or revision surgery, may be a relevant issue for the implant life.ObjectivesTo evaluate the wear behavior of a last generation alumina matrix ceramic composite (AMC) bearing in a worst case scenario consisting of highly contaminated test lubricant with alumina particles in a hip joint simulator study.MethodsAMC (BIOLOX®delta - Group 1) and alumina (BIOLOX®forte - Group 2) liners with an internal diameter of 32mm were articulated against AMC BIOLOX®OPTION heads (all CeramTec GmbH, Plochingen). Coarse alumina particles (D(50):60µm) and fine alumina particles (D(50):0.30µm) with a concentration of 48mg/ml were used as environmental contamination of the first 2mlc and the second 2mlc, respectively. All components were tested according to ISO14242-1(2012) using the EndoLab®h...