Experimental Investigation of the Tribological Contact between Ti6Al4V-EBM Pin and UHMWPE Rotating Sheet for Prosthetic Applications

Abstract

This work is aimed at studying the tribological contact between a titanium–aluminum–vanadium alloy pin (Ti6Al4V), produced by Electron Beam Melting (EBM), and a sheet of ultra high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE), which are widely utilized materials for prosthetic applications. Using a “pin on disc” system, tribometric tests of different duration (up to 240 min) were carried out in order to trace the trend of the polymer mass loss as a function of test time. In this way it was possible to identify the stationary phase of adhesive friction, at which the specific wear rate, which characterizes the tribological system under different lubrication conditions, was obtained. As for the pin, no weight losses were measured, while the optical observations on the tip showed a compressive effect after the entire test campaign.