A 6 MILLION CYCLE WEAR STUDY OF SILICON NITRIDE AND COBALT CHROME FEMORAL HEADS ON UHMWPE LINERS

摘要

Clinical and laboratory studies have reported 50 % wear reductions for UHMWPE liners articulating against ceramic femoral heads compared to Co-Cr. Silicon nitride (SiN) offers improved flexural strength and fracture toughness compared to alumina. However, the wear performance of SiN against UHMWPE has yet to be reported. Therefore, the aim of the current study was to test the hypothesis that SiN femoral heads would create lower UHMWPE wear in comparison to Co-Cr heads.