Be-7 recoil implantation for ultra-thin-layer-activation of medical grade polyethylene: Effect on wear resistance

Wear of ultra-high-molecular-weight-polyethylene (UHMWPE) is usually measur ed by gravimetric methods making laboratory wear tests a time consuming exe rcise. Methods for the determination of polyethylene wear with a higher sen sitivity would reduce test times and costs. One of these alternative method s is ultra-thin-layer-activation (UTLA), which relies on recoil implantatio n of heavy radioactive nuclei, such as Be-7, by using light mass particle b eams. However, the possibility of damages within the polyethylene surface, which would have consequences on its wear behavior, cannot be excluded. In this work the effect of an implantation of 7Be on wear of a medical grade U HMWPE was studied using a block-on-cylinder screening wear tester. The resu lts show that the implantation of UHMWPE with Be-7 recoils under the implan tation conditions chosen does not alter the tribological behavior of medica l grade UHMWPE. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.