• KSTLE International Journal
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.55-58
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• 2001

The most widely-used orthopaedic grade polymer bearing liner material, ultrahigh molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE), for the total joint arthroplasty degrades after gamma-irradiation sterilization through the progressive oxidation in a shelf and in vivo. Oxidative degradation makes UHMWPE brittle and leads to decrease in mechanical properties. In this study the relationship between post-gamma-irradiation aging time and wear of UHMWPE was investigated. Six retrieved polyethylene hip liners implanted for 3-16 years and then stored in air for 1.5-6.5 years until tests were used. Two types of pin-on-disk wear testing were conducted by the uni-directional repeat pass rotating and by the linear reciprocating stainless steel disks against stationary polyethylene pins under 4Mpa at 1Hz with bovine serum lubrication in ambient environment. Wear of retrieved polyethylene hip liners does not have direct correlation with in vivo or total aging time. Linear reciprocal sliding motion generated more remarkable wear than uni-directional repeat pass sliding motion. It indicates that kinematic motion affects very crucially on the wear of aged UHMWPE having brittle white band region.

• Tribology and Lubricants
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.167-172
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• 2002

The wear behaviors of ultrahigh molecular weight polyethylene pins against titanium alloy and stainless steel disks moving in two different kinematic motion were investigated by conducting repeat pass rotational sliding and linear reciprocal sliding wear tests. Linear reciprocal motion wore more the polyethylene pin than did repeat pass rotational motion for both disk materials. It means that the repeated directional change of contact stresses generates more wear debris in polyethylene. For the linear reciprocal sliding tests, titanium alloy disks were damaged with some scratches after one million cycles but no surface damage was observed on the polyethylene pins. On the other hand, fur the repeat pass rotational sliding tests, all titanium alloy disks were severely abraded on the entire region of sliding track. This phenomenon can be interpreted by that stress fatigue under repeated sliding contact initiated titanium oxide layer wear particles from disk surface, and these hard particles were embedded into polyethylene pin and then they severely abraded the disk surface. From these results it can be concluded that the kinematic motion in pin-on-disk wear tests play a crucial role on the wear behaviors of UHMWPE pins against titanium alloy and stainless steef discs.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Tribologists and Lubrication Engineers Conference
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• 2000.11a
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• pp.67-71
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• 2000

The wear behaviors of ultrahigh molecular weight polyethylene pins against titanium alloy and stainless steel disks moving in two different kinematic motion were investigated by conducting repeat pass rotational sliding and linear reciprocal sliding wear tests. Linear reciprocal motion wore more the polyethylene pin than did repeat pass rotational motion for both disk materials. It means that the repeated directional change of contact stresses generates more wear debris in polyethylene. For the linear reciprocal sliding tests, titanium alloy disks were damaged with some scratches after one million cycles but no surface damage was observed on the polyethylene pins. On the other hand, for the repeat pass rotational sliding tests, all titanium alloy disks were severely abraded on the entire region of sliding track. This phenomenon can be interpreted by that stress fatigue under repeated sliding contact initiated titanium oxide layer wear particles from disk surface, and these hard particles were embedded into polyethylene pin and then they severely abraded the disk surface. From these results it can be concluded that the kinematic motion in pin-on-disk wear tests play a crucial role on the wear behaviors of UHMWPE pins against titanium alloy and stainless steel disks.

• Hip & pelvis
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• v.34 no.2
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• pp.115-121
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• 2022

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the wear and survival rates of third-generation ceramic heads on a conventional ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene liner. Materials and Methods: A total of 160 hips (147 patients with a mean age of 55.9 years) who underwent total hip arthroplasty using the third-generation ceramic head on a conventional polyethylene liner from March 1998 to August 2003 were reviewed retrospectively. Evaluation of the wear rate for 56 hips (49 patients) followed-up for at least 15 years was performed using the PolyWare program version 8 (Draftware Developers, USA). The Kaplan-Meier survivorship was also evaluated. Results: Linear wear and volumetric wear rates were 0.11±0.47 mm/year and 32.75±24.50 mm³/year, respectively. Nine revisions were performed during the follow-up period because of cup or stem loosening. The Kaplan-Meier survival rate, using cup revision or total revision total hip arthroplasty (THA) as the endpoint of analysis, was 93.7% at 15 years and 73.6% at 20 years. Conclusion: Because all revisions were performed between 15 and 20 years in our study, surgeons should pay greater attention to patients who underwent THA with ceramic-on-polyethylene bearing from 15 years postoperatively. Contemporary alumina ceramic on highly cross-linked polyethylene could certainly be a good alternative bearing couple providing better longevity.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Tribologists and Lubrication Engineers Conference
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• 2002.10b
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• pp.365-366
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• 2002

The sliding wear behavior of ultra high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE) was examined on a novel low temperature degradation-free zirconia/alumina composite material and conventional alumina and zirconia ceramics used for femoral head in total hip joint replacement. The wear of UHMWPE pins against these ceramic disks was evaluated by performing linear reciprocal sliding and repeat pass rotational sliding tests for one million cycles in bovine serum. The weight loss of polyethylene against the novel low temperature degradation-free zirconia/alumina composite disks was much less than those against conventional ceramics for all tests. The mean weight loss of the polyethylene pins was more io the linear reciprocal sliding test than in the repeal pass rotational sliding lest for all kinds of disk materials. Neither the coherent transfer film nor the surface damage was observed on the surface of the novel zirconia/alumina composite disks during the test. The observed r,'stilts indicated that the wear of the polyethylene was closely related to contacting materials and kinematic motions. In conclusion, the novel zirconia/alumina composite leads the least wear of polyethylene among the tested ceramics and demonstrates the potential as lhe alternative materials for femoral head in total hip joint replacement.

• Journal of the Korean Arthroscopy Society
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.190-194
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• 2012

The role of arthroscopy for the diagnosis of polyethylene wear after total knee arthroplasty has been reported previously. In this report, we demonstrate a case of wear of meniscal bearing in unicompartmental knee arthroplasty (UKA) and recurrent meniscal bearing subluxation which was diagnosed by arthroscopy. Arthroscopic examination has its role in diagnosing the wear and subluxation of polyethylene bearing after UKA.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Tribologists and Lubrication Engineers Conference
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• 2003.11a
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• pp.91-94
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• 2003

Ceramic femoral heads in the total hip replacement have been developed to reduce the polyethylene liner wear. Alumina and zirconia (3Y-TZP) are using in clinical application worldwide and there are many good test reports. However, alumina has a risk of catastrophic failure, and zirconia has the low temperature degradation in spite of enhanced fracture toughness. Recently, novel zirconia/alumina composite having low temperature degradation-free character and high fracture tough . was developed and it leads the lower wear 3f polyethylene than alumina and zirconia. In the present study, in order to optimise the microstructure of low temperature degradation (LTD)-free zirconia/alumina composite for the best wear resistance of polyethylene, various compositions of (LTD)-free zirconia/alumina composites were fabricated, and the sliding wear of UHMWPE against these novel composites were examined and compared with that against alumina and zirconia ceramics used for total hip joint heads.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Tribologists and Lubrication Engineers Conference
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• 2004.11a
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• pp.355-361
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• 2004

Ceramic femoral heads in the total hip replacement have been developed to reduce the polyethylene liner wear, Alumina and zirconia (3Y-TZP) having the excellent tribological properties are coupled against acetabular cups of polyethylene and are used in clinical application worldwide. However, alumina has a risk of catastrophic failure, and zirconia has the low temperature degradation in spite of enhanced fracture toughness. Recently, novel zirconia/alumina composite is very attractive due to the low temperature degradation (LTD)-free character and high fracture toughness. In the present study, we focus on the wear of ceramic on ceramic, which are able to be used as femoral heads and acetabular cups. Therefore, LTD-free zirconia/alumina composites with three compositions are made in a form of disk and cylinder, and the wear of the composites is performed on pin-on-disk type wear tester. The wear is conducted with or without lubricant. All the composites fabricated with the different composition show the good wear resistance.

• Proceedings of the KOSOMBE Conference
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• v.1998 no.11
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• pp.90-91
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• 1998

The influence of gamma-irradiation sterilization on the creep and wear performance of ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE) was investigated by conducting the dynamic compressive creep tests and pin-on-disc sliding wear tests. The changes of microstructure property, relative crystallinity, oxidation index, percent crosslinking, were also measured and the relationship between these and creep and wear results was discussed.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.22 no.6
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• pp.519-526
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• 2001

At present. about 0.3 million and more THRs (Total Hip Replacement) in a rear are being done worldwide. The increase in mechanical failure with the increase in THR, required more revisions. Revisions compensate mainly the wear of the artificial joint frictional surface and the loosening of the cup and stem. According to recent researches, loosening is mainly due to wear debris UHMWPE (Ultra High Molecular Weight Polyethylene) from frictional surfaces . To overcome the wear problems associated with artificial joint materials , new surface structures with regular Patterns were designed and fabricated The lubrication Properties were examined to evaluate the wear of the frictional surfaces. The surface structure manifested a Pattern of "dents" with a 0.2-1.0 mm of diameter and 0.6-2.0 mm of Pitch. From the friction test of the SUS316L vs UHMWPE using the frictional tester, we found that the lubrication Performance was improved due to of drastically reduced amount of abrasion. There were optimum sizes for the diameter and the pitch of the Pattern. The results demonstrated that the lubrication properties could be improved by Patterning of the frictional surfaces. The surface Patterning was effective in preventing wear of the frictional surfaces, and the life of an artificial joint could be extended with such Patterning.