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Review
. 2014 Jan 7;15(1):014402.
doi: 10.1088/1468-6996/15/1/014402. eCollection 2014 Feb.

Effects of surface coating on reducing friction and wear of orthopaedic implants

Hee Ay Ching  1 , Dipankar Choudhury  2 , Md Julker Nine  1 , Noor Azuan Abu Osman  1
Affiliations
Review

Effects of surface coating on reducing friction and wear of orthopaedic implants

Hee Ay Ching et al. Sci Technol Adv Mater. .

Abstract

Coatings such as diamond-like carbon (DLC) and titanium nitride (TiN) are employed in joint implants due to their excellent tribological properties. Recently, graphite-like carbon (GLC) and tantalum (Ta) have been proven to have good potential as coating as they possess mechanical properties similar to bones-high hardness and high flexibility. The purpose of this systematic literature review is to summarize the coating techniques of these four materials in order to compare their mechanical properties and tribological outcomes. Eighteen studies published between January 2000 and February 2013 have met the inclusion criteria for this review. Details of their fabrication parameters, material and mechanical properties along with the tribological outcomes, such as friction and wear rate, were identified and are presented in a systematic way. Although experiment conditions varied, we conclude that Ta has the lowest wear rate compared to DLC, GLC and TiN because it has a lower wear rate with high contact pressure as well as higher hardness to elasticity ratio. However, a further tribology test is needed in an environment which replicates artificial joints to confirm the acceptability of these findings.

Keywords: Artificial joints; Friction; Surface coating; Wear.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Flow chart of journal selection process for the systematic review.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Different types of coating materials used in the selected papers.
Figure 3
Figure 3
General coating methods in producing coating materials for joint prostheses.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Schematic diagram of PSII-IBED method. Adapted with permission from [10]. Copyright 2004 Elsevier.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Pulsed laser deposition system. Adapted with permission from [8]. Copyright 2005 Elsevier.
Figure 6
Figure 6
Variation of hardness and surface roughness of the coated materials (zero values indicate the data are not mentioned in the papers selected).
Figure 7
Figure 7
SEM micrographs of (a) 250 nm thick DLCH coated UHWPE, (b) 700 nm thick DLCH coated UHWPE before wear testing, (c) 250 nm thick DLCH coated UHWPE and (d) 700 nm thick DLCH coated UHWPE after tribological testing. Reprinted with permission from [55]. Copyright 2010 Elsevier.
Figure 8
Figure 8
Wear rate and contact pressure with different coating materials (∗NA = contact pressure is not mentioned).
Figure 9
Figure 9
Wear track morphology after 1000 m of sliding distance for Ti–6Al–4 V +40% TiN. Reprinted with permission from [9]. Copyright 2012 Elsevier.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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    1. Hoseini M, Jedenmalm A and Boldizar A. 2008. Tribological investigation of coatings for artificial joints Wear 264 958–66
    1. Xie D, Liu H, Deng X, Leng Y X and Huang N. 2009. Deposition of a-C:H films on UHMWPE substrate and its wear-resistance Appl. Surf. Sci. 256 284–8
    1. Huang L-Y, Xu K-W, Lu J, Guelorget B and Chen H. 2001. Nano-scratch and fretting wear study of DLC coatings for biomedical application Diamond Relat. Mater. 10 1448–56
    1. Manhabosco T M and Muller I L. 2009. Electrodeposition of diamond-like carbon (DLC) films on Ti Appl. Surf. Sci. 255 4082–6

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