Importance of pin geometry on pin-on-plate wear testing of hard-on-hard bearing materials for artificial hip joints

The contact mechanics between the pin and the plate used in simple wear screening tests were investigated in this study. Both soft-on-hard, such as ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE)-on-metal or UHMWPE-on-ceramic, and hard-on-hard, such as metal-on-metal, bearing couples were considered. The effect of the pin geometry and the misalignment between the pin and the plate were investigated on the predicted contact pressure distribution at the bearing surfaces using the finite element method. It was demonstrated that in the case of soft-on-hard bearing couples, neither the geometrical discontinuity of the pin surface nor the misalignment could cause a significant increase in the contact stress. However, for hard-on-hard combinations, even with a very small misalignment of 0.5° between the pin and the plate, the geometrical discontinuity could lead to a more than tenfold increase in the predicted contact stress. This elevated contact stress may lead to a large scatter in the wear data and, even more importantly, structural damage of the bearing surfaces.