LUBRICATION EFFECT OF METAL-ON-METAL IN HIP JOINT REPLACEMENT

MOHD SYAFIQ BIN MOHD SURI

UNIVERSITI TEKNOLOGI MALAYSIA

LUBRICATION EFFECT OF METAL-ON-METAL IN HIP JOINT REPLACEMENT

MOHD SYAFIQ BIN MOHD SURI

The project report submitted in partial fulfilment of the

requirements for the award of the degree of

Master of Engineering (Mechanical)

Faculty of Mechanical Engineering

Universiti Teknologi Malaysia

MAY 2014

iv

ABSTRAK

Pengunaan bahan keras-keras merupakan satu kaedah alternatif untuk menggantikan

bahan lembut-lembut atau lembut-keras yang telah lama digunakan dalam

penggantian sendi pinggul. Antara jenis bahan keras-keras yang biasa digunakan

dalam penggantian sendi pinggul adalah logam-logam. Walaubagaimanapun, rangka

pinggul yang menggunakan logam-logam boleh menghasilkan zarah penghakis yang

kecil hasil daripada pergeseran permukaan sentuhan di antara kepala femoral dan

acetabulum. Oleh sebab itu, prestasi pelincir di antara permukaan kepala femoral dan

acetabulum adalah penting untuk mengurangkan zarah penghakis. Objektif kajian ini

adalah untuk mengkaji kesan pelinciran terhadap penggantian sendi pinggul logam-

logam. Dua jenis analisis sentuhan telah dijalankan, iaitu sentuhan tanpa pelinciran

dan sentuhan dengan pelinciran. Dalam analisis sentuhan tanpa pelinciran, tekanan

sentuhan yang maksima ialah 32.887 MPa sementara analisis bagi sentuhan dengan

pelinciran, tekanan sentuhan yang adalah rendah. Hal ini berlaku kerana di antara

kepala femoral dan acetabulum mempunyai satu lapisan pelinciran filem bendalir

penuh. Hal ini menyebabkan penghakis yang dihasilkan melalui rangka pinggul

logam-logam dapat dikurangkan kerana keberkesanan pelincir filem berupaya untuk

mengurangkan penghakis dengan ketara. Di samping itu, kajian ini tertumpu kepada

parameter rekabentuk iaitu kelegaan jejari dan saiz kepala femoral. Didapati bahawa

tekanan sentuhan yang maksima adalah meningkat apabila kelegaan jejari meningkat

dan tekanan sentuhan yang maksima adalah menurun apabila saiz kepala femoral

meningkat.

v

ABSTRACT

The use of hard-on-hard material is one of alternative methods to replace the soft-on-

soft or soft-on-hard material which has long been used in hip joint replacement. The

common type of hard-on-hard material used in hip joint replacement is metal-on-

metal. However, the metal-on-metal hip implants produce the small wear particle as

a result of attrition of the contact surface between femoral head and acetabulum cup.

Therefore, the lubrication performance between the surface of the femoral head and

acetabulum cup is essential to reduce wear particle. The objective of this study was

to determine the effect of lubrication on metal-on-metal hip joint replacement. Two

types of contact analysis were performed, without and with lubrication. In the contact

analysis of without lubrication, the maximum contact pressure was 32.887 MPa

while lubrication contact analysis, maximum contact pressure was lower. It was

occurred because between the surface of femoral head and acetabulum cup has full

fluid film lubrication. This causes the wear that produced by metal-on-metal hip joint

implants can be reduced because an effective lubricant film is able to reduce wear

significantly. In addition, this study focused on the design parameters, radial

clearance and femoral head size. It was found that the maximum contact pressure

increased when the radial clearance also increased and the maximum contact

pressure decreased when the femoral head size increased.

v

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TABLE OF CONTENT

CHAPTER ITEM PAGE

DECLARATION ii

ABSTRACT iii

ABSTRAK iv

CONTENT v

LIST OF TABLE viii

LIST OF FIGURE ix

LIST OF APPENDICES xi

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION

1.0 Introduction 1

1.1 Objective of the Study 2

1.2 Scope of the Study 4

1.3 Problem Statement 5

vi

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CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 Joint 6

2.2 Hip Joint 9

2.2.1 Metal-on-Polyethylene

(UHMWPE)

2.2.2 Ceramic-on-Ceramic

2.2.3 Metal-on-Metal

2.3 Biotribology 14

2.3.1 Surfaces

2.3.2 Friction

2.3.3 Lubrication

2.3.4 Wear

2.4 Wear Problem in Metal-on-Metal

Hip Joint 25

CHAPTER 3 MATERIAL AND METHOD

3.1 Introduction 28

3.2 The Model of Hip Joint

Implant 29

3.3 Finite Element Model 30

3.4 Procedure of Finite Element Analysis 32

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CHAPTER 4 RESULT AND DISCUSSION

4.1 Introduction 34

4.2 Convergent Study (Mesh Sensitivity) 35

4.3 Validation of Dry Contact Case 37

4.4 Effect of Radial Clearance on Contact

Pressure 37

4.5 Effect of Femoral Head Size on Contact

Pressure 40

CHAPTER 5 CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION

5.1 Conclusion 44

5.2 Recommendation 46

REFERENCE 48

ix

LIST OF FIGURES

NO TITLE PAGES

1.1 The Conventional of Total Hip Joint Replacement and

Resurfacing Hip Joint Replacement 3

2.1 The Base of Thumb 7

2.2 The Joint at the Elbow 7

2.3 The Joint Between Carpal Bones in the Wrist 8

2.4 The Hip Joint 8

2.5 The Pivot Joint Between Atlas and Axis 9

2.6 The Hip Joint Anatomy 10

2.7 The Ceramic-on-Ceramic Hip Joint Implants 12

2.8 The Metal-on-Metal Hip Joint Replacement 13

2.9 2D Diagram of Hip Implants 17

2.10 Stribeck Curve Various Mode of Lubrication 20

2.11 Metal Ion are Released and Entering the Joint Space

and Surrounding Tissues 26

2.12 Metal ions are Interrupting the Joint Capsule and

Surrounding Tissue 26

3.1 Diagram of Hip Implant 29

3.2 Mesh Shape of the Hip Implants Model 31

3.3 The Shape of Mesh of the Whole Structure lubrication contact) 32

x

3.4 The Flow Chart of Finite Element Analysis Method 33

4.1 Graph of Maximum Contact Pressure (MPa) versus Angular

Position (º) 36

4.2 Graph of Maximum Contact Pressure (Mpa) against No of

Element. 37

4.3 Graph of Maximum Contact Pressure (MPa) versus Angular

Position (º) (Without Lubrication) – Constant Femoral Head Size 38

4.4 Graph of Maximum Contact Pressure (MPa) versus Angular

Position (º) (With Lubrication) – Constant Femoral Head Size 39

4.5 Graph of Maximum Contact Pressure (MPa) versus Radial Clearance

(μm) 40

4.6 Graph of Maximum Contact Pressure (MPa) versus Angular

Position (º) (Without Lubrication) – Constant Radial Clearance 41

4.7 Graph of Maximum Contact Pressure (MPa) versus Angular

Position (º) (With Lubrication) – Constant Radial Clearance 41

4.8 Graph of Maximum Contact Pressure (MPa) versus Femoral

Head Size (mm) 42

viii

LIST OF TABLES

NO TITLE PAGES

1.1 The Advantages And Disadvantages of the Material Configuration

that Used in Hip Joint Replacement 2

2.1 Typical Ra Value for Surface Depends By Engineering Production

Process 15

2.2 The Values of Typical Ra for Various Bearing Surface Used In

Artificial Hip Joint 15

2.3 The Typical Static Coefficient Of Friction in Dry Contact 16

2.4 The Value of Friction Factor for Material Combination Bearings

in Artificial Hip Joint) 18

2.5 The Summary of the Determination Of λ Ratio and Lubrication

in Typical Material Combination in Hip Joint Implants (Metal-on-

Metal in Left and Ceramic on Ceramic in Right) 22

2.6 The Wear Factors, K for Material Combination That Used in

Artificial Hip Joint 25

4.1 The Types of Mesh and No of Elements 36

1

CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

1.0 Introduction

Before the production of artificial hip joint replacement, patients with injured joint

often suffered from continuous pain and cause the performance of their joints is

decreased. Nowadays, the total replacement of hip joint is commonly used in

treatment for many cases such as osteolysis and similar disable conditions. It can

improve the life-quality of millions of patients. But the hip joint replacement can

produce the wear and corrosion performance by material configurations and human

movement or activity such as walking, running, jumping and others. Therefore, the

design parameters and development of the hip joint is very important things in

improvement of wear and corrosion performance.

The hip joint replacement material configurations that are commonly used are

metal-on-Polyethylene (UHMWPE), metal-on-metal, and ceramic-on-ceramic. The

selection of the hip joint material is depends on the surgeon’s preference, the

patient’s age group and their activity level (Dan Sun, 2009). Since the hip joint

replacement was first introduced, the metal-on-Polyethylene bearing design has been

2

leading in surgery. But, it can cause the osteolysis effect induced by high level

polymeric particle release from bearing surface. In order to reduce the wear rate,

alternative hard-on-hard material configurations have been prompted such as metal-

on-metal and ceramic-on-ceramic. However also these configurations have

drawbacks namely in metal-on-metal, the main problem is related to the presence of

potentially cancerous metal ions, produced from wear particles and in ceramic-on-

ceramic, its properties is brittle. But, the metal-on-metal is the best material

configuration compared with metal-on-polyethylene because the metal-on-metal

configuration exhibits much lower volumetric wear than metal-on-polyethylene.

Table 1.0 shows that summarizes of the advantages and disadvantages of material

configuration that used in hip joint replacement.

Table 1.1: The Advantages and Disadvantages of the Material Configuration that

Used In Hip Joint Replacement

Material Advantages Disadvantages

Metal-on-Polyethylene

-Low cost

-High manufacturing

precision not required

The production of large

number of wear particles

with higher risk of osteolysis Ceramic-on-Polyethylene

-Low cost

-Low toxicity

Metal-on-Metal

-High wear resistance

-Can self-polish moderate

surface scratches

-Metal sensitivity

-Long-term and systematic

reactions to metal debris and

ions not known

Ceramic-on-Ceramic

-Higher wear resistance than

metal-on-metal

-High biocompatibility

-Sometimes high wear

-Higher cost

-Technique-sensitive surgery

-Risk to fracture (brittle)

Ceramic-on-Metal

-Highest wear resistance

-Lowest wear rate (100

times lower than metal-on-

metal)

-Latest development

-Undergoing clinical trials

3

In metal-on-metal hip implants, the metal-on-metal component have been

commonly used are conventional and resurfacing total hip joint replacement.

Conventional total hip joint replacement is all of the bone of femoral head is replaced

by the metal implant. Resurfacing total hip joint replacement is the replacement of

femoral head and acetabulum cup, where the femoral head is retained and a hollow

of metal cup is placed over it, while a metal cup that same is placed in the

acetabulum. It can remove very little femoral bone compared with the conventional

hip joint replacement. Besides that, the usage of resurfacing of hip joint replacement

can allow better a stress transfer to the proximal femur and optimal range of

movement (Dan Sun, 2009). Figure 1.1 shows that the conventional total hip joint

replacement and resurfacing hip joint replacement.

Figure 1.1: The Conventional Total Hip Joint Replacement and Resurfacing Hip

Joint Replacement

In order to produce the best and good quality of hip joint implants, the

concept of tribology must be studied in detail. Tribology means the study of friction,

wear, lubrication and bearing design in relative motion. It relates to the subject of

engineering such as solid mechanics, fluid mechanics, material science, heat transfer

and others. The aspect of tribology that related to the biological system called

biotribology. Biotribology is the concept of tribology science applied to functional

biological systems, especially the synovial joints and their artificial replacement. The

main of tribology aspect, such as friction, wear and lubrication is very important

parameter to increase the hip implants’ performance in the long-term usage.

4

1.1 Objective of the Study

The objective of this study is to investigate the effect of lubrication on contact

pressure metal-on-metal in hip joint replacement.

1.2 Scope of the Study

To achieve its objective, the scope of study should be carried out as follows:

a) Understand the problem of wear on the metal-on-metal (MoM) hip

joint replacement.

b) Construct the ball and socket representing acetabulum cup and

femoral head.

c) Carry out contact pressure analysis using Finite Element Method

analysis without lubrication as a control specimen.

d) Perform contact pressure analysis using Finite Element Method in the

fluid as lubrication medium.

e) Analyse the effect of radial clearance and femoral head size on

contact pressure

5

1.3 Problem Statement

When the original hip joint implant is loosening and cannot be used anymore, it

needs to replace with the new hip implants by surgery. Most surgeons prefer to

choose the metal-on-metal as material configuration in hip joint replacement because

the metal-on-metal hip implants are contains lower volumetric wear. However,

metal-on-metal still produces the wear and friction as a result of the movement

between the femoral head and acetabulum cup. Even a little wear produced by metal-

on metal, but the wear still exists and can affect the performance of hip joint implants

in a long term. If this problem not be taken seriously, then there will be inflammation

of the hip joint implants.

Besides that, the enhancement of wear particle has related to the applied load.

It will lead to the existence of contact pressure between femoral head and acetabulum

cup. Therefore, this project focuses to analyse contact pressure between femoral head

and acetabulum cup using finite element method in dry and lubrication contact. In

addition, this project was focused more on the effect of design parameters on the

maximum contact pressure at the contact surface. This analysis was also involved the

two different contacts, namely dry contact and lubrication contact.

48

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