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Friction and wear of sintered alumina with grain sizes between 0.4 and 3 μm were measured in comparison with Al2O3/TiC composites and with tetragonal ZrO2(3 mol% Y2O3). The dependence on the grain boundary toughness and residual microstresses is investigated, and a hierarchical order of influencing parameters is observed. In air, reduced alumina grain sizes improve the micromechanical stability of the grain boundaries and the hardness, and reduced wear is governed by microplastic deformation, with few pullout events. Humidity and water slightly reduce the friction of all of the investigated ceramics. In water, this effect reduces the wear of coarser alumina microstructures. The wear of aluminas and of the Al2O3/TiC composite is similar; it is lower than observed in zirconia, where extended surface cracking occurs at grain sizes as small as 0.3 μm.

The tribological behaviour of different ceramics in contact with steel was studied for the case of oscillating sliding motion with a ball‐on‐disc apparatus. The influence of several test condition parameters was investigated by a systematic variation of the stroke, frequency, and normal load at room temperature in laboratory air at different levels of relative humidity. Each of the four parameters was varied in three stages. While the coefficient of friction was only mildly influenced by the operational variables, the coefficient of wear showed great variations and depended strongly on the humidity of the surrounding air. The effect of the operational variables and of the humidity on friction and wear varied for the different materials under investigation.

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Macrophages play a pivotal role in tissue reaction and immune response. They recognize, phagocytose particles and generate cytokines to influence local cellular reactions. Friction and wear of implant components usually generates microparticles (MP) in a size range of 1-10 mum and nanoparticles (NP) in the range of 10-1000 nm. To investigate the possible impact of MP or NP on cellular reactions, we exposed murine macrophages (RAW264.7) to corundum MP and NP. The same mass was used in both NP and MP cell culture solutions, i.e. there were more NP than MP per identical volumes of culture solution. After 4, 24, 48, 72, and 96 h aliquots of cell culture supernatants were tested for different cytokines, growth factors and nitric oxide. Macrophages were stained with MGG (May-Grünwald Giemsa), counted and morphologically characterized by scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy. Particles were attached to cell surfaces and phagocytosed within cells. Cells stimulated with particles or lipopolysaccharides for positive controls showed surface modifications indicating enhanced function. Although only marginal differences between negative controls and particle-stimulated cells were observed in respect to cytokine production, exposure to corundum particles led to a decrease in the number of vital macrophages and to an increase in the number of giant cells. Corundum NP formed micron-sized aggregates in the cell culture medium and led to the production of more giant cells than MP. Sodiumdodecylsulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis of the cell culture medium with particles proved the adsorption of proteins to particles.