Kamran Sadiq, EngD student

kamran.sadiq@strath.ac.uk

Project title: Simulation and mapping the bio-tribocorrosion mechanisms in metal-on-metal hip replacement prosthesis

The rate of unprecedented failed hip replacement devices in recent years directed an urgent need to develop the next-generation of orthopaedic implants, implant materials and implant coatings in order to minimise the generation of wear particles and subsequent revision surgeries. The problem has been particularly acute in the case of metal-on-metal implants, which were subject of a major product recall by DePuy in 2010 and affecting some 500,000 patients in the USA alone. In 2013 the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) issued a ban on such implants across all NHS hospitals in the UK due to the high failure rates.

Centred on these issues this research principally investigates the underlying wear mechanisms occurring in metal-based hip joint replacement prosthesis in-vivo. It is well established that a synergy mechanism exists between wear and corrosion, material degradation is not simply the sum of the individual wear and corrosion i.e. tribocorrosion. The aim of the current research therefore investigates how the wear mechanisms may be mapped as a function of the biological, tribological and electrochemical variables for clinically relevant and physiologically simulated conditions – with a view to developing a bio-tribocorrosion wear model. A modified micro-scale abrasion test rig and electrochemical interface have been built to simulate physiological hip contact conditions at the Tribology Group laboratory. The project is highly multi-disciplinary and combines knowledge in the areas of tribology, biomaterials and biomechanics.

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