Tribocorrosion Aspects of Biomedical Implant Failures: Progresses and New Directions

Speaker:

M.T. Mathew, Cedric W. Blazer Endowed Professor University of Illinois College of Medicine Rockford; Biomedical Sciences, Department of Restoratory Dentistry & Department of Bioengineering, UIC, Chicago; Department of Orthopedics, Rush University Medical Center, Chicago

Description:

Ti/CoCrMo based Biomedical Implants are commonly used in clinical management and medical practices, to replace or repair malfunctioned or failed body parts or joints. The challenge of a clinician is to have an implant which satisfies the functional requirements of the patients, and it should have minimum side effects on the patient's body. Several clinical reports and studies showed the early failure of such implants and release of the metal ions/particles to the surrounding tissues, which become a serious clinical concern. Such processes are mainly caused by the mechanical movements of the implants coupled with the effect of body environment. The effect can be the biochemical or electrochemical response of the implant metals to the surrounding solution, which is called as corrosion. Furthermore, the combined effect of such mechanical factors and chemical and electrochemical factors is known as tribocorrosion.

This talk will address the basics and recent progress in the tribocorrosion (sliding/fretting) studies on the biomedical implant in vitro simulations, as a function of mechanical, biochemical and biological variables. Last 10 years, the research from our own lab, on corrosion, tribology and tribocorrosion aspects of biomedical implants (minimizing and early predictions) will be discussed and summarized.