A Wear Study of Diamond-like Carbon Film for Total Hip Arthroplasty Applications

This study used two different deposit techniques: microwave plasma assisted chemical vapor deposition (MPCVD) and radio frequency magnetron sputter deposition (RFMSD), to deposit diamond- like carbon (DLC) on Co-Cr-Mo alloy head to obtain better wear resistance of total hip arthroplasty. Wear quantity, wear mechanism, wear debris, micro structure, and morphology of the contact surfaces were obtained by the hip simulator, SEM and AFM. The results show that the DLC layer by MPCVD has higher surface roughness, more wear, lower wear resistance, and higher ID/IG ratio in Raman spectroscopy. But the RFMSD sputtered DLC layer has bigger wear debris, larger number of grooves for ultra-high-molecular-weight polyethylene (UHMWPE), and more wear for UHMWPE. As revealed by the results of the observation of the contact surfaces to determine the abrasion loss of UHMWPE, the UHMWPE against a metal femoral head deposited with DLC using MPCVD shows better wear resistance.