Optical properties of ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE): A material of choice for total joint applications

Abstract

Abstract In this study optical spectroscopic investigation (from 360 nm to 850 nm) of UHMWPE has been performed using double integrating sphere (DIS) setup. The results revealed that ~9.6% of reference light signal transmitted without interaction i.e. collimated transmitted light was found ~10%. Major portion of reference signal was found to be absorbed, while ~4% of light at each wavelength reflected back from UHMWPE surface. However, de-convolution of absorbance curve having goodness of fit value >98% showed five main absorption peaks at 390 nm, 460 nm, 500 nm, 532 nm and 632 nm, respectively. The absorption peaks at 390 nm and 460 nm belonged to the strong absorption at surface of UHMWPE due to lower penetration depth at these wavelengths, and the peaks at 532 nm and 650 nm might be due to Raman active bands of PE. In addition, maximum collimated transmittance and almost negligible diffuse transmittance of reference signal showed that scattering was total forward directed which revealed the anisotropic nature of UHMWPE.