In vitro wear investigation of polyether ether ketone biopolymer for total knee replacement

Abstract

Nowadays, the average life span of knee prosthesis used in total knee replacement is approximately 10 to 15 years. The prevention of failure for these implants has been a constant struggle for orthopaedic surgeons and engineers. The reason behind for implant failures includes wear, infection, instability and stiffness. The major causes of failure are wear and tear of prosthesis. The most common biomaterials used in total knee replacement rubbing against a mating component of ultra-high-molecular-weight polyethylene are titanium alloy Ti6AI4V and alloy CoCrMo. The main drawback is that implants are still restrained by tiny ultra-high molecular weight poly debris generated by long term friction between femoral component and polyethylene articulating surface. Hence, the attempt is made to reduce the wear rate by replacing with high wear-resisting biomaterial. This research investigated whether polyether ether ketone was the appropriate material for total knee replacement by examining wear performance against Ti6AI4V. The experiments are conducted with different loading and speeds. The results are optimized by developing the regression equation using analysis of variance.