Effect of Counterface Roughness on the Cross-Path Wear of Ultra-High Molecular Weight Polyethylene

Ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE) is used worldwide as a bearing material in total joint replacement prostheses. Despite its excellent biocompatibility and high wear resistance, wear of UHMWPE components continues to be a major problem limiting the clinical lifespan of UHMWPE-containing orthopaedic implant devices. Multi-directional motion or cross-path motion is known to affect wear rates of UHMWPE in total knee and hip replacement prostheses. The purpose of this study was to quantify the effect of counterface roughness on the cross-path wear of UHMWPE and to determine if the previously established unified theory of wear model could accurately predict wear rates in an abrasive wear environment. UHMWPE pins were articulated against both smooth (centerline roughness, Ra, of 0.015 µm) and rough (Ra = 0.450µm) cobalt-chromium counterfaces in a series of six rectangular wear paths (width = A, length = B) with systematically increasing aspect ratios (B/A) and linear tracking (A = 0), all with identical path lengths (20mm) per cycle. Gravimetric weight loss was converted into volumetric wear rates and wear factors, k. The results showed that for both smooth and rough-counterface tests, wear reached a maximum when a 3mmx7mm wear path was employed. The unified theory of wear was generally accurate in predicting wear rates; however, for rough-counterface tests there was a larger increase in the wear factor for higher aspect ratio rectangular wear paths. The ratio [k rough/ k smooth] decreased monotonically as a function of increasing width of rectangles, normalized by total path length, or A/(A +B). This study showed that wear of UHMWPE articulating in a rectangular motion path likely occurs via a two-step mechanism beginning with molecular orientation followed by material fracture from the UHMWPE surface. The models inability to accurately predict UHMWPE wear for rectangular paths with lower aspect ratios suggests that there may be other operative wear mechanisms including significant re-orientation in the perpendicular sliding direction. In conclusion, it is possible to predict the wear behavior of UHMWPE using mathematical models. A robust model would have an important role in characterizing and predicting performance of currently used and potential future orthopaedic implant materials

Integrated calcareous nannofossil biostratigraphy and magnetostratigraphy from the uppermost marine Eocene deposits of the southeastern Pyrenean foreland basin : evidences for marine Priabonian deposition

An integrated magneto-biostratigraphic study, based on calcareous nannofossils, was carried out on the Eocene uppermost marine deposits of the southeastern Pyrenean foreland basin. The study was performed along six sections of the upper portion of Igualada Formation, cropping out in the Vic area. Common late Middle/Upper Eocene nannofossil assemblages allow recognizing, within a normal magnetozone or immediately below, the FO of Istmolithus recurvus, which identifies the base of NP19 Zone, in the Priabonian. This event occurs within C16n.2n magnetozone in several oceanic and Mediterranean sections, which allows the correlation of the normal magnetozone in the Vic area to chron C16n.2n. This challenges previous magnetostratigraphic interpretations in the Vic area that correlated the uppermost marine sediments to chron C17n. The estimated age for the FO of I. recurvus is 36 Ma and collectively with the magnetostratigraphic data indicates that the uppermost marine sediments in the basin are of Priabonian age. The new results indicate that the entire chronology of the marine strata needs reassessment. The thickness of chron C16n.2n varies from 45 m in the Collsuspina area (southern sector) to about 270-290 m in the Sant Bartomeu del Grau area (northern sector), which is indicative of a marked asymmetry in the basin deposition

The sociolinguistic situation of the British and the US American communities in Spain

This report is concerned with the sociolinguistic situation of the British and US American communities living in Spain. The data used to compile it were drawn from speech data collected during the course of a project financed by the Spanish Comisión Interministerial de Ciencia y Tecnología on the sociolinguistic and psycholinguistic aspects of migrated speech communities and language minority groups in Spain (SEC93-0725), of which the British and the US American communities were two of the twenty-four investigated

Datos paleomagnéticos del sustrato rocoso de la isla de Livingston (Península Antártica): implicaciones tectónicas en la evolución neógena

We report paleomagnetic results from the Miers Bluff Formation and Tertiary dykes and andesites in Livingston Island (South Shetland Islands, Antarctic Peninsula). Most of the samples carry stable magnetization, residing in a low coercivity phase, most likely (Ti)magnetite. Progressive untilting of the Characteristic Remanent Magnetization directions reveals that the magnetization of the turbidites (Miers Bluff Fm.) is post-folding. Miers Bluff and the dyke mean directions do not show any significant difference, suggesting the same magnetization age. Thus, a local Cenozoic remagnetization is proposed. Also, the paleomagnetic poles suggest a tectonic tilting that would explain the observed discrepancies between the produced paleopoles and the APWP for the Antarctic Peninsula