Investigation of boundary lubrication mechanisms by synovial fluid constituents through in situ visualization of forming boundary lubricating film

摘要

Excellent lubrication properties of natural synovial joints are considered to be due to the adaptive multimode lubrication mechanism, in which various lubrication mechanisms functioned synergistically and hierarchically. Synovial fluid in the joint capsule is composed of various constituents, and those constituents are indicated to have a role as boundary lubricants for natural and artificial joints. However, the observations and analyses of boundary lubricating film formed by synovial fluid constituents were mainly conducted after friction test. Therefore, details of the formation process of boundary lubricating film and mechanisms of boundary lubrication by synovial fluid constituents are not investigated. Therefore, we approach to elucidate the mechanisms of boundary lubrication by synovial fluid constituents through in situ visualization of forming boundary lubricating films. This reports showed the current results and general overviews of our researches.