ULTRASONIC IN-SITU CONTINUOUS WEAR MEASUREMENTS OF ORTHOPEDIC TITANIUM-ALLOYS

An ultrasonic pulse-echo technique has been demonstrated for in-situ c ontinuous wear measurements. This method, based on the difference in t he time of flight as recorded and converted into change of length as w ear progresses, was shown to give accurate and reproducible results wh en compared to the conventional mass loss procedure. Additional inform ation regarding subsurface deformation was obtained with the ultrasoni c technique, strain hardening, grain refinement, crystallographic reor ientation caused by sliding-induced deformation all being detectable. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science S.A. All rights reserved.