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B. Sagbas, M.N. Durakbasa:
"Third-Body Wear Behavior of Orthopedic Biopolymers";
International Journal of Mining, Materials and Metallurgical Engineering (IJMMME), 1 (2016), Volume 2; 1 - 7.

Third-body wear of orthopedic materials is very important parameter that affects the service life of artificial joints. Ultra High Molecular Weight Polyethylene (UHMWPE) has been the most preferred acetabular cup material for the past four decades. However wear is the primary problem waiting for to be solved. The wear debris of UHMWPE causes adverse tissue reactions and third-body wear damages which cause implant failure. For enhancement of UHMWPE tribological properties new materials such as vitamin E blended UHMWPE (VE-UHMWPE) have been developed for extending the implants life. Although many researches have been done about tribological behavior of conventional UHMWPE, there are limited numbers of study about third-body wear mechanism of vitamin E blended UHMWPE (VE-UHMWPE). The objective of this study is to determine the effect of PMMA bone cement as third-body particles on wear behavior of conventional UHMWPE and VE-UHMWPE. Pin-on-disc wear tests were applied under 60 N load and 3 hours in ultrapure water lubrication conditions. The results were evaluated for determining wear mechanism of disc materials.

Keywords: Biotribology, UHMWPE, Vitamin E, Third-body wear, Orthopedic implant.