Establishment of a Rolling-Sliding Test Bench to Analyze Abrasive Wear Propagation of Different Bearing Materials for Knee Implants

Currently, new materials for knee implants need to be extensively tested but such tests are expensive in a knee wear simulator in a realized design. However, using a rolling-sliding test bench, these materials can be examined under the same test conditions, but with simplified geometries. In the present study, the test bench was optimized, and forces were adapted to the physiological contact pressure in the knee joint using the available geometric parameters. Various polymers made of polyethylene and polyurethane, articulating against test wheels made of cobalt-chromium and aluminum titanate, were tested in the test bench using adapted forces based on ISO 14243–1. Polyurethane materials showed distinctly higher wear rates than polyethylene materials and showed inadequate wear resistance for use as knee implant material. Thus, the rolling-sliding test bench is an adaptable test setup to evaluate newly developed bearing materials for knee implants. It combines the advantages of screening and simulator tests and allows for the testing of various bearing materials under physiological load and tribological conditions of the human knee joint. The wear behavior of different material compositions and the influence of surface geometry and quality can be initially investigated without the need to produce complex implant prototypes of total knee endoprosthesis or interpositional spacers.