Abstract

In the majority of cases, failure of conventional metal-on-ultra-high molecular

weight polyethylene (UHMWPE) artificial joints is due to wear particle induced
osteolysis. Therefore, new materials have been introduced in an attempt to
produce bearing surfaces that create lower, more biologically compatible wear.
Polyetheretherketone (PEEK-OPTIMA) has been successfully used in a number of
implant applications due to its combination of mechanical strength and
biocompatibility.

Multi-directional pin-on-plate wear tests were performed on carbon fibre

reinforced PEEK-OPTIMA (CFR-PEEK) against CoCrMo. PAN-based CFR-PEEK was
tested against both low carbon and high carbon CoCrMo and Pitch-based CFRPEEK was tested against high carbon CoCrMo only. The multi-directional motion
of the pin-on-plate machine replicated the crossing of the wear paths that would
be expected in vivo. For each test, four pin and plate samples were tested for
two million cycles at a cycle frequency of 1 Hz under a 40 N load (which resulted
in a contact stress of about 2 MPa). The lubricant used was bovine serum diluted
with distilled water to a protein content of 15 gl-1. This was maintained at 37 C.
The wear was determined gravimetrically. Soak control specimens were used to
account for any weight changes due to lubricant absorption.

The average steady state wear for the CFR-PEEK pins was found to be 0.144,
0.176 and 0.123 10-6 mm 3N-1m-1 for the CFR-PEEK PAN pins against low
carbon CoCrMo, CFR-PEEK PAN pins against high carbon CoCrMo and CFR-PEEK
Pitch-based pins against high carbon CoCrMo. A comparison of the results from
the low and high carbon plates articulating against the PAN-based pins shows
that the high carbon CoCrMo produced slightly higher wear than the low carbon
CoCrMo. The protruding carbides on the high carbon CoCrMo plates may have
caused this increase in wear. The lowest wearing material combination in this
study was CFR-PEEK Pitch against high carbon CoCrMo. Published papers on the
wear of UHMWPE against stainless steel [1] have shown higher wear factors (1.1
10-6 mm3N-1m-1).

Pitch and PAN-based CFR-PEEK against CoCrMo (low carbon or high carbon)
provided low wear rates. On average, the Pitch-based material against high
carbon CoCrMo provided the lowest wear in these tests. All the material
combinations gave lower wear than found for UHMWPE-on-stainless steel tested
under similar conditions. This gives confidence in the likelihood of this material
combination performing well in orthopaedic applications.

The authors wish to thank INVIBIO Ltd for funding this research