The Development of a Multi-Directional Wear Apparatus and the Characterization and Correlation of Biomechanical and Biotribological Properties of Bovine Articular Cartilage

摘要

A multi-directional wear apparatus was developed to simulate the kinematic motion of diarthrodial joints. A comprehensive evaluation including biotribological and biomechanical characterization of articular surfaces was performed with concomitant translational and oscillating rotational motion similar to that experienced in vivo. Various system parameters were evaluated in the designed experiments including normal load magnitude (high/low), surface quality (defect/no defect), and wear pattern (with/without rotation). Biomechanical characterization was achieved through stress relaxation and dynamic cyclical testing. Quasi-linear viscoelastic theory was used to curve-fit the stress relaxation data, while the dynamic data was used to determine the dynamic properties through Fast Fourier Transform analysis and verify the assumptions posed with the QLV theory.Overall tissue compression was significantly dependent on load magnitude (pstatic was significantly dependent on surface quality (pinitial was significantly dependent on both surface quality (pComparisons of the curve-fit parameters showed a significant decrease in pre- vs post-wear elastic response, A, and viscous response, c. In addition, the short term relaxation response, τ1, showed a significant decrease between no defect (0.801 ± 0.13 sec) and a defect (0.679 ± 0.16 sec). lGlpost-wear/lGlpre-wear tan δ , was generally greater while lGl was less for those specimens experiencing rotation Qualitatively, SEM photographs revealed the mechanical degradation of the tissue surface due to wear. Surfaces with a defect had increased wear debris, which ultimately contributes to third body wear. Surfaces without a defect had preferentially aligned abrasions, while those surfaces outside the wear path showed no signs of wear.Significant correlation was detected between the μstatic and μinitial for both the nonliner viscous response, B (p2 (pu3c0.013 and pu3c0.062). Thus, the comprehensive evaluation of biomechanical and biotribological characteristics suggests the new wear regime and standardization of analysis techniques will aid in the development of functional articular repair and clinical repair techniques.