Frequency effect in fretting wear of Co-28Cr-6Mo versus Ti-6Al-4V implant alloys

A piezo‐electrically driven fretting testing device has been constructed and fretting release and release rates have been determined with highest accuracy, using a radiotracer technique. First results on the fretting release and release rate of titanium alloy fretting pads against cobalt‐chrome alloy fatigue specimens are reported. The frequency dependency of fretting release has been determined between 1 and 8 Hz and shows higher release rates for low frequencies, thus indicating that accelerated testing of materials and components of artificial joints must be analyzed extremely carefully. The present experiments under simple conditions present a base‐line study for step‐wise applying more complex and realistic testing conditions and for using radiotracer methods to quantify fretting release in simulated testing of artificial hip‐ and knee‐prostheses. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Biomed Mater Res Part B: Appl Biomater, 2006