Mixed oxides prosthetic ceramic ball heads. Part 3: effect of the ZrO2 fraction on the wear of ceramic on ceramic hip joint prostheses. A long-term in vitro wear study

Using ceramic materials it is possible to obtain a number of beneficial mec hanical properties such as considerable hardness, good chemical resistance, high tensile strength, and a good fracture toughness. The use of ceramic-o n-ceramic as bearing surfaces for hip joint prostheses has been reported to produce a lower wear rate than other combinations (i.e. metal-on-polyethyl ene and ceramic-on-polyethylene) in total hip artroplasty. These advantages may increase the life expectancy of hip implants and improve the life of p atients. Two new types of mixed-oxide ceramics (alumina and yttria-stabilis ed zirconia) femoral heads and acetabular cups containing different ratios of alumina and zirconia were compared with pure commercial alumina in terms of wear behaviour in a hip joint simulator. Hip joint wear simulator studi es were carried out with a full-peak load of 2030 N and a frequency of 1 Hz in bovine calf serum. After 10 million cycles the measured weight loss of all specimens was very low. However, the experimental results did not show any significant difference between the new experimental mixed-oxide ceramic s prototype and the commercial ceramic material couplings. (C) 2001 Elsevie r Science Ltd. All rights reserved.