Experimental Study to Evaluate the Wear Performance of UHMWPE and XLPE Material for Orthopedics Application

The main objective of this study is to perform an abrasive wear resistance study of UMHWPE and XLPE by using different grades of abrasive paper (grade 100 (190 mu m), grade 220 (50 mu m), and grade 400 (40 mu m)) with minor (10 N) and major (15 N) loading conditions. In this article, wear performance of the UMHWPE and XLPE materials compared to the bio-tribological data as reported earlier in the clinical studies has been investigated. The experimental result shows that the loss of materials for the XLPE was much higher than the UHMWPE under similar loading conditions. UHMWPE shows a 34% reduction in wear at minor loading conditions and a 53% reduction in wear at major loading conditions. From experimental results it was concluded that Cross-link PE has better wear resistance than UHMWPE in minor wear conditions, whereas UHMWPE shows better wear resistance under major loading conditions. Based upon these results, UHMWPE and XLPE have been recommended for use as bearing materials in orthopedics. The experimental results of this study were validated using results from the available literature.