Biotribology: Material design, lubrication, and wear in artificial hip joints

Biotribology is generally involved with all aspects of tribology related to biological systems [1]. Typical examples of tribology applied to biology include: • Wear of denture [2,3] • Friction of skin and comfort of clothes, socks, and shoes [4,5], and slipperiness [6,7] • Tribology of contact lenses and ocular tribology [8] • Tribology at microlevels — inside cells, vessels, and capillaries such as lubrication by plasma of red blood cells in narrow capillaries [9] • Wear of replacement heart valves [10] • Lubrication of the pump in total artificial hearts [11] GEORGE: “2095_c017” — 2006/2/15 — 12:37 — page 2 — #2 • Wear of screws and plates in bone fracture repair [12] • Lubrication in pericardium and pleural surfaces [13] • Tribology of natural synovial joints and artificial replacements [14,15] The details of each of the topics listed above can be found in the various references cited. The main focus of this chapter is to review studies of contact mechanics, friction, lubrication, and wear in artificial hip joints.