A simple surrogate test method to rank the wear performance of prospective ceramic materials under hip prosthesis edge-loading conditions

This research has developed a novel test method for evaluating the wear resistance of ceramic materials under severe contact stresses simulating edge loading in prosthetic hip bearings. Simply shaped test specimens - a cylinder and a spheroid - were designed as surrogates for an edge-loaded, head/liner implant pair. Equivalency of the simpler specimens was assured in the sense that their theoretical contact dimensions and pressures were identical, according to Hertzian contact theory, to those of the head/liner pair. The surrogates were fabricated in three ceramic materials: Al2 O3 , zirconia-toughened alumina (ZTA), and ZrO2 . They were mated in three different material pairs and reciprocated under a 200 N normal contact force for 1000-2000 cycles, which created small (