Wpływ preparatów krwi na właściwości tribologiczne skojarzenia UHMWPE/STOP CoCrMo

Abstract

An introduction of a new material for long-term implants, especially for endoprostheses, should be preceded with comprehensive research, including tribological tests. The in vitro operational tests of materials used for endoprostheses, which cannot be skipped, should be performed in conditions reflecting, as far as possible, those present in the implanted joint. This will allow a quite accurate description of the behaviour of the biomaterial tested in the aspect of its long-term life cycle in a living organism. So far, there has been no standard lubricating agent that should be used in this type of tests. The above problems are seldom discussed in the professional literature. The authors of this paper intend to present the influence of lubricating agents, including the animal and human blood plasma and the human blood serum, on the tribological characteristics of the polymer-metal friction couple. The results of the experiments made have revealed a different course of tribological characteristics of blood preparations compared to those of distilled water as well as changes in the values of the friction coefficient and wear intensity at various loads and sliding speeds. Human blood-based products are characterised with a larger spread and lower explicitness of results than other lubricating agents. It is disadvantageous in the case of applying a pure form of these products for tribological tests. The analyses carried out show imperfections of blood derivative preparations but, at the same time, they dictate the direction of searching for a liquid to be used in long-term tribological in-vitro tests.