A Study of the Biotribology of the Artificial Hip Joint Using the Finite Element Method

Abstract

This research aims to study the wear evaluation of artificial hip joint implants subjected to walking loading due to various activities. These activities place these implants at risk for failures such as osteolysis and aseptic loosening, which generate wear and associated debris. Therefore, wear evaluation under walking activities is critical for the design and development of new and improved implant components. Based on this, this paper presents the wear evaluation of two different pairs of hip implants. The first pair predicts the wear of a UHMWPE acetabular cup liner versus a zirconia femoral head, and the second pair predicts the wear of a PEEK liner versus a zirconia femoral head, using Finite element analysis (FEA) analysis of a three-dimensional (3D) model of the hip implant. The analysis results show that the Zirconia-UHMWPE combination has lower wear depth and lower wear volume compared to the Zirconia-PEEK combination.