Wear behaviour of CFR PEEK articulated against CoCr under varying contact stresses: Low wear of CFR PEEK negated by wear of the CoCr counterface

Abstract

Total hip replacement with metal-on-polymer hip prostheses is the most common treatment for late-stage osteoarthritis. However, the wear debris generated from the polymer acetabular liner remains a problem. Alternative materials with claimed superior wear properties have been proposed to overcome this problem. In this study, the wear behaviour of carbon fibre reinforced polyether ether ketone (CFR PEEK) was investigated under different contact stresses that are observed in the natural hip joint. A 50-station pin-on-disc machine (SuperCTPOD) was used to investigate the wear behaviour of 50 CFR PEEK pins articulated against cobalt chromium (CoCr) discs under five different contact stresses, namely 1.11, 1.38, 1.61, 2.00 and 5.30 MPa. The results showed that the wear rates of the pins did not differ significantly between groups under different contact stresses. In addition, CFR PEEK produced lower wear rates than ultrahigh molecular weight polyethylene and cross-linked polyethylene. However, the weight of the CoCr discs was found to decrease significantly at the end of the wear test, which was indicative of metallic wear. The findings of this study indicated that, despite having relatively low wear rates, CFR PEEK is not a good alternative to be utilised against orthopaedic metals.