Tribological behavior of nanocomposites based on UHMWPE aged in simulated synovial fluid

Abstract

Ultra High molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE) suffers wear degradation in total joint replacements and it needs to be improved. Thus, we enhanced wear resistance of UHMWPE with carbon nanofiller and paraffin oil and studied its tribological behavior in Simulated Synovial Fluid (SSF) for 60 days at 37 °C to reproduce the conditions of a real joint. Ageing in biological fluid accelerates the wear action but nanocomposite exhibited a higher wear resistance compared to UHMWPE because of its higher structural homogeneity. Carbon nanofiller closes the porosity of UHMWPE hindering SSF to penetrate inside. Wear resistance of the nanocomposite with 1.0 wt.% of CNF improved of 65% (before ageing) and of 70% (after 60 days in SSF) with respect to pure UHMWPE.