(Bio)Tribocorrosion in Dental Implants: Principles and Techniques of Investigation

Tribocorrosion is a current and very discussed theme in tribology and medicine for its impact on industrial applications. Currently, the phenomena are mainly oriented to the biological environment and, in particular, to medical devices such as hip prostheses, dental implants, knee joints, etc. The term tribocorrosion underlines the simultaneous action of wear and corrosion in a tribocouple. It has a non-negligible effect on the total loss of contact materials and the potential failure of the bio-couplings. This overview aims to focus firstly on the basic principles of prosthesis tribocorrosion and subsequently to describe the techniques and the analytical models developed to quantify this phenomenon, reporting the most relevant results achieved in the last 20 years, proposed in chronological order, in order to discuss and to depict the future research developments and tendencies. Despite considerable research efforts, from this investigation come many issues worthy of further investigation, such as how to prevent or minimize tribocorrosion in biological tribopairs, the development of a consolidated protocol for tribological experiments in corrosive environments joined with new biomaterials and composites, the possibility to achieve more and more accurate theoretical models, and how to be able to ensure the success of new implant designs by supporting research and development for the management of implant complications. The above issues certainly constitute a scientific challenge for the next years in the fields of tribology and medicine.