A Strategy to Enhance the Biomedical Articulation System by Electrochemically Texturing of Metal Surfaces

Abstract

The concept of texturing steel surfaces were attempted to ease the surface wear and to prevent the release of harmful ions in the conventional joint replacement systems. The surfaces of the bio-compatible steels were textured by photolithography and electrochemical etching techniques to lower the friction coefficient and hence reduce the wear of the surface. Experimental results confirmed that the surfaces with textures (grooves) showed lower friction coefficient compared to un-textured surfaces at a high load (50 N). The friction coefficient could be further reduced for a lower load (10 N) through optimizing the generated hydrodynamic lift. A significant 47% reduction of friction coefficient was archived by tailoring the orientation and size of the textures on the stainless steel surface. The demonstrated strategy in this study would thus offer exciting avenues for developing artificial joint systems that last the full duration of the patients' life without any side-effect concerns.