Wear 376-377 (2017) 329–336

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Wear
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/wear

Biotribology behavior and fluid load support of PVA/HA composite

hydrogel as artificial cartilage
Kai Chen n, Xuehui Yang, Dekun Zhang n, Linmin Xu, Xin Zhang, Qingliang Wang
School of Materials Science and Engineering, China University of Mining and Technology, Xuzhou 221116, China

art ic l e i nf o a b s t r a c t

Article history: The human body joint motion is very complicated, which mainly includes sliding, swing, rotation.
Received 27 August 2016 Therefore, cartilage covering the joint surface bears the repeated friction which is caused by the different
Received in revised form movements during the whole life. So sliding, swing and torsion friction behavior of hydrogels need to be
18 November 2016
researched as synthetic articular cartilage. In this paper, PVA/HA composite hydrogel is cross-linked on
Accepted 22 November 2016
the UHMWPE surface through chemical grafting and freezing-thawing method. Biotribology behavior
and fluid load support are researched. The results show that swing and torsion friction coefficients are
Keywords: negligibly small, while sliding friction coefficient is largest. There is a negative linear relationship be-
PVA/HA composite hydrogel tween fluid load support and friction coefficient. Fluid load supports are relative high under swing and
Fluid load support
torsion friction, so the swing and torsion friction coefficients are relative low. Hydrogel can be re-
Biotribology
plenished by re-swelling to sustain the fluid pressurization during friction under lubrication condition.
Lubrication
Both fluid load support and biphasic lubrication due to its porous structure with large amount of water
contribute to the low friction coefficient.
& 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
The hip and knee joint are the main load-bearing joints in
human body, and they are the main movement parts of human
body [1–3]. The basic daily movements of hip joint are flexion-
extension, adduction-abduction, internal and external rotation and
circumduction. The basic daily movements of knee joint are flex-
ion-extension, adduction-abduction, internal and external rotation
and horizontal migration of front and back. So human can com-
plete all kinds of action because of the existing movement of hip
and knee joints. The joints are the largest load bearing biological
friction pairs. Therefore, cartilage covering the joint surface bears
the repeated friction which is caused by the different movements
during the whole life. Hence, the articular cartilage wears and fails,
which causes the symptom of pain, swelling and bone crepitus.
Finally, osteoarthritis is generated [4–9]. Nowadays, the osteoar-
thritis which is caused by the wear of articular cartilage has be-
come the first disabling disease around the world. About 400
million people suffer the joint disease. Due to limit of the self-
repair ability, it cannot repair along once the damage or disease is
caused. Therefore, the replace of artificial joint is set to rebuild the
joint characteristic [10].
n
Corresponding authors.
E-mail addresses: cumtck@cumt.edu.cn (K. Chen),
dkzhang@cumt.edu.cn (D. Zhang).
The artificial joint replacement has become the effective way to
treat the joint disease or trauma. However, due to the lack of the
nature metabolism of artificial implant materials, the compatibility
of prosthesis interface and life medium is poor. Moreover, the
contact interface of total joint replacement implants is hard-face
to hard-face, and the contact surface exists wear. A large number
of clinical medical research has confirmed that the wear of artifi-
cial joints is the main reason of the aseptic loosening of joint re-
placement. The local osteolysis which is caused by wear particles
leads to the aseptic loosening. This is the main reason of failure of
artificial joint replacement [11–13].
Polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) hydrogel has three-dimensional net-
work structure, which is similar to the natural articular cartilage.
Meanwhile, it possesses the properties of solid and liquid and it
also has a good biocompatibility, mechanical property and biolo-
gical tribology performance. Recent years, PVA hydrogel is ex-
pected to become the cartilage repair material and replace the
biological materials [14].
As the human body joints have many movement modes, the
research on the friction properties under different movement
modes is very important. Researchers researches mainly on tan-
gential sliding friction and wear behavior of the hydrogel [15–18].
Besides, few researches study the flexion-extension (swing) and
adduction-abduction (rotation) of the hip and knee joints. There-
fore, it is important to study and understand the biological tri-
bology behavior and lubrication mechanism under different
movement modes. This paper studies the friction properties and

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.wear.2016.11.033
0043-1648/& 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
330 K. Chen et al. / Wear 376-377 (2017) 329–336
fluid load support of PVA/HA composite hydrogel under different
movement modes (sliding friction, swing friction and rotating
friction). Also, the effects of three movement modes on the friction
lubrication of PVA/HA composite hydrogel are explored. PVA/HA
composite hydrogel was bonded with the acetabulum of ultra-
high-molecular-weight polyethylene (UHMWPE) by the chemical
bonding method, and the friction and wear properties are tested
by hip simulation experiments. The bearing and damage me-
chanism of PVA/HA composite hydrogel is studied, which provides
theoretical basis for the study of bionic joint repair materials.
2. Experiment material and method
2.1. Preparation method of PVA/HA composite hydrogel
Potassium dichromate and concentrated sulfuric acid were
weighed with mass percent of 1:4. It was put into the thermostat
water bath with 70°C. It was stirred to uniformity and dichromate
oxidation solution formed. The UHMWPE sample was immerged
in the 70°C dichromate oxidation solution for 10 min. PVA, HA and
deionized water were weighed with mass percent (15% PVA, 3%
HA and 82% deionized water). After swelling 24 h under room
temperature, it was immerged in the thermostat water bath with
95°C. The PVA/HA composite hydrogel solution was produced. PVA
and deionized water were weighed with mass percent of 7% and
91.5%. The former steps were repeated and PVA solution was
produced. Concentrated sulphuric acid with 1.5% were put into as
catalyst and grafting solution was produced. The cleaned
UHMWPE sample was immerged in the grafting solution and put
into the thermostat water bath with 90°C for 2 h. The UHMWPE
sample was cleaned with 90°C deionized water to clean the un-
reacted PVA. The produced 15%PVA and 3%HA composite hydrogel
was put into the surface UHMWPE sample to make PVA/HA
composite hydrogel reach to 2mm. The sample was put into the
cooled storage incubator with 20°C for 6–10 h and thawed for 2–
3 h under the room temperature. This process was repeated for
9 times and PVA/HA composite hydrogel artificial cartilage was
produced [19].
2.2. Acetabulum grafting PVA/HA composite hydrogel
The UHMWPE was processed into acetabulum with roughing
treatment to increase the reacting area for oxidative esterification
and the fixed area with hydrogel. Its diameter is 32 mm. Stainless
steel metal ball joint was processed to match the acetabulum, and
its diameter is 28 mm. Using the methods of chemical grafting
which is shown in the Section 2.1 to prepare acetabulum grafting
PVA/HA composite hydrogel. It was put into the cooled storage
incubator with 20°C for 6–10 h, and thawed at room tempera-
ture for 2–3 h. This process was repeated for 9 times and acet-
abulum grafting PVA/HA composite hydrogel was produced
(Fig. 1).
Fig. 1. UHMWPE acetabulum with PVA/HA composite hydrogel.
2.3. Experiment device and parameter
The sliding, swing, rotation friction tests was carried on the
UMT multi-functional micro friction testing machine to test the
cobalt chromium molybdenum (CoCrMo) alloy balls with PVA/HA
composite hydrogel (Test diagram is shown in Fig. 2). The diameter
of CoCrMo ball is 28 mm, and The UHMWPE sample of sliding
friction is 20 mm  20 mm  30 mm. The thickness of the PVA/HA
composite hydrogel is 2 mm, and lubricating media is 25% bovine
serum. The sliding test loads are chosen as 10 N, 20 N, 30 N and
40 N and the speeds are chosen as 1 mm/s, 5 mm/s, 10 mm/s,
20 mm/s, 30 mm/s, 40 mm/s and 60 mm/s. The sliding distance of
CoCrMo ball is 10 mm, and the experimental parameters are
shown in Table 1.
The swing test load are 10 N, 20 N and 30 N and the swing
angle are 5°, 10° and 15°, which is shown in Table 2. The rotation
test load of are 10 N, 30 N and 50 N and the rotation angle are 5°,
10° and 15°, which is shown in Table 3. The UHMWPE sample of
swing friction and rotation friction is φ30 mm.
2.4. Friction finite element model of PVA/HA composite hydrogel
2.4.1. Sliding friction finite element model of PVA/HA composite
hydrogel
According to the size of PVA/HA composite hydrogel and
CoCrMo alloy ball, the friction finite element model of CoCrMo
alloy ball and PVA/HA composite hydrogel was established. The
thickness of the PVA/HA composite hydrogel is 2 mm, and the
thickness of UHMWPE is 2 mm. The diameter of CoCrMo alloy ball
is 28 mm. Saint-Venant method is used to simplify this model. The
CoCrMo ball was divided into 14608 entity unit with 8 node re-
ducing integration (C3D8R), and PVA/HA composite hydrogel was
divided into 22560 entity unit with 8 node pore pressure in-
tegration (C3D8RP). The UHMWPE was divided into 22560 entity
unit with 8 node reducing integration (C3D8R), and the model of
CoCrMo ball and PVA/HA composite hydrogel was established
(Fig. 3). The face-to-face contact effect was used to simulation
analysis, molybdenum cobalt chromium ball surface was set as the
main plane and PVA/HA composite hydrogel as minor plane. PVA/
HA composite hydrogel was fixed with UHMWPE to restrain the
movement of UHMWPE on the direction of horizon, vertical and
rotation. The pore pressure of PVA/HA composite hydrogel layer
surrounding was set as 0 [20–25]. The sliding speed and load are
shown in Table 1, and the material properties are shown in
Table 4.
2.4.2. Swing and rotation finite element model of PVA/HA composite
hydrogel
According to the size of PVA/HA composite hydrogel and
CoCrMo alloy ball, the swing and rotation friction finite element
model of CoCrMo alloy ball and PVA/HA composite hydrogel was
established. The thickness of the PVA/HA composite hydrogel is
2 mm, and the thickness of UHMWPE is 2 mm. The diameter of
CoCrMo alloy ball is 28 mm. Saint-Venant method is used to
simplify this model. The CoCrMo ball was divided into 14608 en-
tity unit with 8 node reducing integration (C3D8R), and PVA/HA
composite hydrogel was divided into 22560 entity unit with
8 node pore pressure integration (C3D8RP). The UHMWPE was
divided into 22560 entity unit with 8 node reducing integration
(C3D8R), and the model of CoCrMo ball and PVA/HA composite
hydrogel was established (Fig. 4). The material properties are
shown in Table 4.
The face-to-face contact effect was used to simulation analysis
of swing. The CoCrMo ball surface was set as the main plane and
PVA/HA composite hydrogel as minor plane. PVA/HA composite
hydrogel was fixed with UHMWPE to restrain the movement of
 K. Chen et al. / Wear 376-377 (2017) 329–336 331

Fig. 2. Sliding, swing and rotation friction experiment device of PVA/HA composite hydrogel.

Table 1
Experimental parameters for sliding friction testing.

Influencing factor Experimental parameters

Load/N 10, 20, 30, 40

Sliding speed/ mm/s 1, 5, 10, 20, 30, 40, 60

Table 2
Experimental parameters for swing friction testing.

Influencing factor Experimental parameters

Load/N 10, 20, 30

Swing angle/deg 5, 10, 15

Fig. 4. Swing and rotation friction FEM model.

UHMWPE on the direction of horizon, vertical and rotation. The

Table 3
Experimental parameters for rotation friction testing. pore pressure of PVA/HA composite hydrogel layer surrounding
was set as 0, and the swing angle of CoCrMo ball was set as 5°, 10°,
Influencing factor Experimental parameters 15° [20–25].
The face-to-face contact effect was used to simulation analysis
Load/N 10, 30, 50
Torsional angle/deg 5, 10, 15
of rotation. The CoCrMo ball surface was set as the main plane and
PVA/HA composite hydrogel as minor plane. PVA/HA composite
hydrogel was fixed with UHMWPE to restrain the movement of
UHMWPE on the direction of horizon, vertical and rotation. The
pore pressure of PVA/HA composite hydrogel layer surrounding
was set as 0, and the swing angle of CoCrMo ball was set as 5°, 10°,
15° [20–25].

2.5. Wear test of acetabulum with PVA/HA composite hydrogel

The wear test of acetabulum with PVA/HA composite hydrogel

was carried on hip joint simulation tester, which is shown in Fig. 5.
The experiment standard of the hip joint friction test is ISO14242.
The load, displacement and environment parameter of the hip
wear testing machine are shown in Fig. 6. CoCrMo alloy femoral
head that was used in the experiment was provided by Beijing
Fig. 3. Sliding friction FEM model. Chunlizhengda Medical Instruments Co., Ltd. The diameter is
28 mm, and the lubricating media is 25% calf serum. UHMWPE
acetabulum was set as the contrast specimen, which was carried
Table 4 out the bio-tribology test at meantime.
Material properties of PVA/HA composite hydrogel, UHMWPE and CoCrMo ball.

Material Elastic Poisson's Void Permeability

modulus ratio ratio 3. Results and discussion

14
PVA/HA composite 1.07 MPa 0.45 4.56 2.8  10 m4/Ns 3.1. Influence on PVA/HA composite hydrogel by load under different
hydrogel movement modes
UHMWPE 1258 MPa 0.2 – –
Co–Cr–Mo ball 210 GPa 0.3 – –
Fig. 7 shows the relationship between friction coefficient of
332 K. Chen et al. / Wear 376-377 (2017) 329–336

Fig. 5. Hip joint simulator.

3000
30 Swing
Load
2500 Tosion
20
2000
Load/N

Angle/°
1500 10

1000 0

500
-10
0
-20
0.0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0 0.0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0
Time/s Time/s

Fig. 6. Test condition of hip joint simulator.

0.25 increase of P, and the friction coefficient increases gradually with

the load [26]. The relationships between three movement modes
and the load are as follows:
0.20
Sliding friction: μ = 0.077P 0.28 (1)
Friction Coefficient

Sliding Sliding Fitting

0.15
Swing Swing Fitting Swing friction: μ = 0.0061P 0.79 (2)
Torsion Torsion Fitting
0.10 Rotation friction: μ = 0.014P 0.43 (3)

According to the relationship equation between friction coef-

0.05
0.00
10 20 30
Load/N
Fig. 7. Relationship of friction coefficient and load under different movement
modes.
PVA/HA composite hydrogel and load under different movement
modes. The sliding friction coefficient, swing friction coefficient
and the rotation friction coefficient shows an increase trend with
the increase of load. Besides, the sliding friction coefficient of PVA/
HA composite hydrogel is larger than that of swing friction coef-
ficient and rotation friction coefficient. With the increase of load,
the depth of deformation increases gradually. The deformation
force of PVA/HA composite hydrogel which is overcame by the
friction increases. On the other hand, the contact area of CoCrMo
ball and PVA/HA composite hydrogel increases, and the number of
Blob (m) which is adsorbed by the PVA/HA composite hydrogel
increase with the increase of positive pressure P. Under the low
sliding speed, F ∝ mvτ , and m ∝ P . Therefore, F increases with the
ficient and the load, under the small load, the swing and rotation
friction coefficient of PVA/HA composite hydrogel is very small,
and the sliding friction coefficient is largest. With the increase of
40 50 load, the growth rate of the rotation friction coefficient is low, so
the rotation friction coefficient of PVA/HA composite hydrogel stay
in a very low level; The growth rates of sliding friction coefficient
and rotation friction coefficient are close, because the initial fric-
tion coefficient of swing is small and the swing friction coefficient
of PVA/HA composite hydrogel is small with the increase of load.
Fig. 8 shows the relationship between friction coefficient of
PVA/HA composite hydrogel and fluid load support under different
movement modes. With the fluid load support of PVA/HA com-
posite hydrogel decrease, the sliding friction coefficient, swing
friction coefficient and rotation friction coefficients show an in-
crease trend. As the fluid load support decreases, the growth rate
of sliding friction coefficient is maximum. For the fluid load sup-
port of PVA/HA composite hydrogel is low during swing friction,
the sliding friction coefficient is relative large all the time. When
the PVA/HA composite hydrogel are in swing friction and rotation
friction, fluid load support is high. Therefore, swing friction coef-
ficient and rotation friction coefficient are low. The relationships
 K. Chen et al. / Wear 376-377 (2017) 329–336 333

0.25 Rotation friction: μ = 0.291 − 0.294W f /W (6)

Sliding Sliding Fit
According to the relationship between three movement modes
0.20 Swing Swing Fit
Torsion Torsion Fit and fluid liquid support, when fluid load support decreases to 0.1,
Friction Coefficient

sliding friction coefficient, swing friction coefficient and rotation

0.15 friction coefficient increase to 0.183, 0.047, and 0.0294 respec-
tively. Therefore, the friction performance is influenced by the
fluid load support of PVA/HA composite hydrogel.
0.10
Fig. 9 shows the flow velocity of three movement modes with
the load of 30N. The flow velocity of PVA/HA composite hydrogel
0.05 in sliding friction, swing friction and rotation friction are
2.9  10 2 mm/s, 7.6  10 3 mm/s and 5.0  10 3 mm/s, respec-
tively. Because of the liquid flow on the contact surface of PVA/HA
0.00
0.65 0.70 0.75 0.80 0.85 composite hydrogel, the liquid loss of PVA/HA composite hydrogel
Fluild Load Support occurs on the contact surface. Besides, when PVA/HA composite
hydrogel is in the sliding friction, the flow velocity is maximum
Fig. 8. Relationship of friction coefficient and fluid load support under different
loads and movement modes. and the fluid loss is most serious, which lead to the decrease of
fluid load support and increase of the solid substrate support.
between three movement modes and the fluid load support are as Hence, the sliding friction coefficient is the largest. When PVA/HA
follows: composite hydrogel is in swing friction and rotation friction, the
flow velocity of PVA/HA composite hydrogel is 1/4 and 1/6 of that
Sliding friction: μ = 1.4 − 1.83W f /W (4)
in sliding friction. So, the fluid load support is relative stronger,
and the swing friction coefficient and rotation friction coefficient is
Swing friction: μ = 0.43 − 0.47W f /W (5)
relative small.

Fig. 9. Pore flow velocity clouds under different loads and movement modes (30 N).
334
Sliding Sliding Fit
0.14
Swing Swing Fit
Torsion Torsion Fit
0.12
Friction Coefficient
0.10
0.08
0.06
0.04
0 2 4 6 8 10
Speed/mm/s
Fig. 10. Relationship of friction coefficient and speed under different movement
modes.
3.2. Influence on PVA/HA composite hydrogel by speed under dif-
ferent movement modes
Fig. 10 shows the relationship between friction coefficient and
speed under different movement modes. With the increase of
speed, the sliding, swing and rotation friction coefficient of PVA/
HA composite hydrogel shows an increase of trend, the relation-
ship between speed and friction coefficient under three movement
modes is as follows:
Sliding friction:μ = 0.07v 0.26
Swing friction: μ = 0.018v 0.45
Rotation friction: μ = 0.092v 0.6
According to the relationship between friction coefficient of
PVA/HA composite hydrogel and speed, rotation friction speed
affects the friction coefficient most severely, the sliding friction
take the second place and the swing friction coefficient is mini-
mum. When the sliding friction speed increase from 1 mm/s to 10
mm/s, the sliding friction coefficient of PVA/HA composite hy-
drogel increases from 0.072 to 0.13. When the swing friction speed
increases from 4.88 mm/s to 14.64 mm/s, the friction coefficient
increases from 0.037 to 0.06. Similarly, when rotation friction
speed increases from 0.38 mm/s to 1.14 mm/s, the rotation friction
coefficient increases from 0.052 to 0.1. Therefore, sliding velocity
and rotation velocity have great influence on the friction coeffi-
cient of PVA/HA composite hydrogel. Especially, during the rota-
tion friction, as the contact area of CoCrMo ball and PVA/HA
composite hydrogel remains the same, which causes the liquid
continuous loss in the contact surface. The liquid phase cannot
flow back to contact surface on time, and thus increase the solid
substrate bearing. Besides, the flow velocity increases with the
increase of rotation friction velocity. The fluid loss is more serious,
which leads to the increase of rotation friction coefficient.
Fig. 11 shows the relationship between friction coefficient and
fluid load support under different movement modes. With the
decrease of fluid load support of PVA/HA composite hydrogel,
sliding friction coefficient, swing friction coefficient and rotation
friction coefficient show an increase trend. As the fluid load sup-
port decreases, the growth rate of sliding friction coefficient is
maximum. Besides, the fluid load support of PVA/HA composite
hydrogel is low during sliding friction, so the sliding friction
coefficient is relative large all the time. During swing friction and
shear friction, the fluid load support is high. Therefore, swing
K. Chen et al. / Wear 376-377 (2017) 329–336
0.16
0.14
Sliding Sliding Fit
Swing Swing Fit
Friction Coefficient
0.12
Torsion Torsion Fit
0.10
0.08
0.06
0.04
0.02
12 14 0.00
0.66 0.68 0.70 0.72 0.74 0.76 0.78 0.80 0.82
Fluild Load Support
Fig. 11. Relationship of friction coefficient and fluid load support under different
speeds and movement modes.
friction coefficient and rotation friction coefficient is smaller than
that of sliding friction. The relationship between fluid load support
and friction coefficient under three movement modes is as fol-
lows:
Sliding friction: μ = 1.22 − 1.59W f /W (10)
Swing friction: μ = 0.46 − 0.52W f /W (11)
(7)
Rotation friction: μ = 0.44 − 0.49W f /W (12)
(8) During sliding friction, the fluid load support of PVA/HA com-
posite hydrogel reduces from 0.722 to 0.674, and sliding friction
(9) coefficient increases by 0.058. During swing friction, the fluid load
support of PVA/HA composite hydrogel reduces from 0.82 to 0.775,
and swing friction coefficient increases by 0.023. Similarly, during
rotation friction, fluid load support of PVA/HA composite hydrogel
reduces from 0.786 to 0.688, which reduces by 0.1, and rotation
friction coefficient increases by 0.48. Therefore, the fluid load
support is relative high during rotation friction and sliding friction
with the increase of speed under three movement modes. Hence,
rotation friction coefficient and sliding friction coefficient is large.
Fig. 12 shows the flow velocity of PVA/HA composite hydrogel
during sliding friction and swing friction under the same load.
When the sliding friction speed of PVA/HA composite hydrogel is
5mm/s and swing friction speed is 4.88 mm/s, the flow velocities
are 1.98  10 2 mm/s and 1.05  10 2 mm/s, respectively. Due to
the fluid flow in the contact surface of PVA/HA composite hydro-
gel, the fluid loss of PVA/HA composite hydrogel is generated. The
fluid velocity is relative large, and liquid loss is more serious,
which leads to fluid load support of PVA/HA composite hydrogel
decreases. Therefore, with the increase of the friction coefficient,
the fluid velocity of PVA/HA composite hydrogel is about 1/2 of
that of sliding friction. Hence, the fluid support is strong, and the
swing friction coefficient is less than the sliding friction coefficient.
Fig. 13 shows the fluid velocity of PVA/HA composite hydrogel
during sliding friction and rotation friction under the same load.
The sliding friction speed of PVA/HA composite hydrogel is 1 mm/
s, and the rotation friction speed is 1.14 mm/s. The fluid velocities
are 3.79  10 3 mm/s and 2.72  10 3 mm/s. During rotation
friction, the fluid velocity of PVA/HA composite hydrogel is about
1/6 of that of sliding friction. The fluid loss is small, and the fluid
load support of PVA/HA composite hydrogel is strong. Therefore,
the rotation friction coefficient is less than the sliding friction
coefficient.
 K. Chen et al. / Wear 376-377 (2017) 329–336 335

Fig. 12. Pore flow velocity clouds under different speeds in sliding friction and swing friction.

Fig. 13. Pore flow velocity clouds under different speeds in sliding friction and rotation friction.

1th 10th 100th 1000th

2500
2500
100th
UHMWPE 2000 1000th
2000 UHMWPE-PVA/HA
3000th
5000th
1500
Load/N

Load/N

1500

1000 1000

500 500

0
0.0 0.5 1.0 0.0 0.5 1.0 0.0 0.5 1.0 0.0 0.5 1.0 0
Time/s
0.0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0
Time/s
Fig. 14. Load responses curve of acetabulum on hip joint simulator.
Fig. 15. Load response curve of acetabulum with PVA/HA composite hydrogel.

3.3. The bio-tribology damage experiment of UHMWPE acetabulum
with PVA/HA composite hydrogel
Fig. 14 shows the load response of UHMWPE acetabulum and
UHMWPE acetabulum with PVA/HA composite hydrogel layer on
the hip joint simulation test. The load support value of UHMWPE
acetabulum with PVA/HA composite hydrogel layer is smaller than
that of UHMWPE acetabulum, which shows that acetabulum with
the PVA/HA composite hydrogel layer has excellent load buffering
ability. Therefore, acetabulum with PVA/HA composite hydrogel
layer has excellent mechanical characteristics.
Fig. 15 shows the load response of acetabulum with PVA/HA
composite hydrogel layer on the hip joint simulation test. With the
increase of cycle times, the load response of PVA/HA composite
336 K. Chen et al. / Wear 376-377 (2017) 329–336
Fig. 16. The morphology of acetabulum with PVA/HA composite hydrogel.
hydrogel layer increases gradually. It shows that mechanical buf-
fering ability of PVA/HA composite hydrogel layer is small, which
is caused by the high fluid loss of PVA/HA composite hydrogel
under the high load cycles. The PVA/HA composite hydrogel car-
tilage layer is worn, which lead to the decrease of the fluid load
support of bionic cartilage with PVA/HA composite hydrogel layer.
The mechanical buffer ability decrease, which causes the broken of
PVA/HA composite hydrogel. Finally, the acetabulum fails (Fig. 16),
and the wear resistance of acetabulum could be up to 3000 times.
4. Conclusion
(1) As the load increases, the deformation depth of PVA/HA
composite hydrogel increases gradually and the deformation
force of friction increases. Besides, the contact area of CoCrMo
ball and PVA/HA composite hydrogel increases, and the
number of Blob which is adsorbed by the bionic joint in-
creases. Therefore, friction coefficient increases gradually with
the increase of load at low sliding speed.
(2) Under the same load, the fluid load support of PVA/HA composite
hydrogel has great influence on the friction property. When the
fluid load support decrease to 0.1, the sliding friction coefficient,
swing friction coefficient and rotation friction coefficient increases
by 0.183, 0.047 and 0.0294, respectively. During swing and rota-
tion friction, the liquid velocity of PVA/HA composite hydrogel is
1/4 and 1/6 of that of sliding friction. Therefore, the fluid load
support is high, and the friction coefficient is relative small.
(3) The sliding and rotation speed has great influence on the
friction coefficient of PVA/HA composite hydrogel. With the
increase of speed, the fluid load support of PVA/HA composite
hydrogel decreases sharply during rotation and sliding fric-
tion. Thus, the friction coefficient of PVA/HA composite hy-
drogel is relative large during rotation and sliding friction.
(4) The acetabulum with PVA/HA composite hydrogel layer has
excellent load buffering ability. Under high load, the wear
resistance of acetabulum could up to 3000 times.
Acknowledgements
This research is supported by National Natural Science Foun-
dation of China (Grant No. 51641510, 51505478), Natural Science
Foundation of Jiangsu Province (Grant No. BK20160257), China
Postdoctoral Science Found (Grant No. 2015M580487) and Na-
tional Key Research and Development Program of China (Grant No.
2016YFC1101803).
References
[1] A. Protopapadaki, W.I. Drechsler, M.C. Cramp, et al., Hip, knee, ankle kine-
matics and kinetics during stair ascent and descent in healthy young in-
dividuals, Clin. Biomech. 22 (2) (2007) 203–210.
[2] H. Ding, Z.A. Zhu, Recent advances in anatomy and biomechanics of acet-
abulum, J. Med. Biomech. 23 (5) (2008) 411–414.
[3] K. Scharff, C.A. Tucker, Commentary on “Reliability of Measuring Hip and Knee
Power and Movement Velocity in Active Youth”, Pediatr. Phys. Ther. 27 (1) (2015) 89.
[4] J.A. Buckwalter, H.J. Mankin, Articular cartilage: degeneration and osteoar-
thritis, repair, regeneration, and transplantation, Instr. course Lect. 47 (1997)
487–504.
[5] L.J. Sandell, T. Aigner, Articular cartilage and changes in arthritis. An in-
troduction: cell biology of osteoarthritis, Arthritis Res 3 (2) (2001) 107–113.
[6] M.B. Goldring, S.R. Goldring, Articular cartilage and subchondral bone in the
pathogenesis of osteoarthritis, Ann. New Y. Acad. Sci. 1192 (1) (2010) 230–237.
[7] E.B. Hunziker, Articular cartilage repair: basic science and clinical progress. A
review of the current status and prospects, Osteoarthr. Cartil. 10 (6) (2002)
432–463.
[8] J.A. Buckwalter, H.J. Mankin, A.J. Grodzinsky, Articular cartilage and osteoar-
thritis, Instr. Course Lect.-Am. Acad. Orthop. Surg. 54 (2005) 465.
[9] T. Aigner, L. McKenna, Molecular pathology and pathobiology of osteoarthritic
cartilage, Cell. Mol. Life Sci. CMLS 59 (1) (2002) 5–18.
[10] M. Carrabba, P. Sarzi-Puttini, Introduction: osteoarthritis in the third millen-
nium: a new era for an old disease?[C] Seminars in arthritis and rheumatism,
WB Saunders 34 (6) (2004) 1–2.
[11] M.A. McGee, D.W. Howie, S.D. Neale, et al., The role of polyethylene wear in
joint replacement failure, Proc. Inst. Mech. Eng. Part H: J. Eng. Med. 211 (1)
(1997) 65–72.
[12] A. Kobayashi, W. Bonfield, Y. Kadoya, et al., The size and shape of particulate
polyethylene wear debris in total joint replacements, Proc. Inst. Mech. Eng.
Part H: J. Eng. Med. 211 (1) (1997) 11–15.
[13] S.B. Goodman, Y. Song, J.Y. Yoo, et al., Local infusion of FGF-2 enhances bone
ingrowth in rabbit chambers in the presence of polyethylene particles, J.
Biomed. Mater. Res. Part A 65 (4) (2003) 454–461.
[14] D.S.W. Benoit, M.P. Schwartz, A.R. Durney, et al., Small functional groups for
controlled differentiation of hydrogel-encapsulated human mesenchymal
stem cells, Nat. Mater. 7 (10) (2008) 816–823.
[15] K. Morimoto, Y. Kimura, N. Hirokawa, et al. Frictional Properties of Polyvinyl
Alcohol Hydrogel Mixed with Water as an Artificial Articular Cartilage, in:
Proceedings of the 15th International Conference on Biomedical Engineering.
Springer International Publishing, 2014, pp. 714–717.
[16] A.S. Maiolo, M.N. Amado, J.S. Gonzalez, et al., Development and character-
ization of poly (vinyl alcohol) based hydrogels for potential use as an articular
cartilage replacement, Mater. Sci. Eng.: C 32 (6) (2012) 1490–1495.
[17] Y. Shi, D. Xiong, Microstructure and friction properties of PVA/PVP hydrogels
for articular cartilage repair as function of polymerization degree and polymer
concentration, Wear 305 (1) (2013) 280–285.
[18] H. Kosukegawa, V. Fridrici, P. Kapsa, et al., Friction Properties of Medical Me-
tallic Alloys on Soft Tissue–Mimicking Poly (Vinyl Alcohol) Hydrogel Biomodel,
Tribology Lett. 51 (3) (2013) 311–321.
[19] K. Chen, D.K. Zhang, X.T. Cui, Q.L. Wang, Preparation of ultrahigh-molecular-
weight polyethylene grafted with polyvinyl alcohol hydrogel as an artificial
joint, RSC Adv. 5 (31) (2015) 24215–24223.
[20] K. Chen, D. Zhang, Z. Dai, et al., Research on the interstitial fluid load support
characteristics and start-up friction mechanisms of PVA-HA-Silk Composite
Hydrogel, J. Bionic Eng. 11 (3) (2014) 378–388.
[21] G.A. Ateshian, The role of interstitial fluid pressurization in articular cartilage
lubrication, J. Biomech. 42 (9) (2009) 1163–1176.
[22] S.S. Pawaskar, J. Fisher, Z.M. Jin, Modelling of fluid support inside articular
cartilage during sliding, Proc. Inst. Mech. Eng. Part J: J. Eng. Tribiology 224 (J3)
(2007) 165–174.
[23] S.S. Pawaskar, E. Ingham, J. Fisher, Z.M. Jin, Fluid load support and contact
mechanics of hemiarthroplasty in the natural hip joint, Med. Eng. Phys. 33
(2011) 96–105.
[24] K. Chen, D.K. Zhang, X.T. Cui, et al., Research on swing friction lubrication
mechanisms and the fluid load support characteristics of PVA–HA composite
hydrogel, Tribology Int. 90 (2015) 412–419.
[25] K. Chen, D. Zhang, X. Yang, et al., Research on torsional friction behavior and
fluid load support of PVA/HA composite hydrogel, J. Mech. Behav. Biomed.
Mater. 62 (2016) 182–194.
[26] J. Gong, Y. Osada, Gel friction: a model based on surface repulsion and ad-
sorption, J. Chem. Phys. 109 (18) (1998) 8062–8068.