Papers by Keyword: Alumina Composite

Abstract: To clarify the effects of parameters of porous ceramics form on the characteristics of composites fabricated by high-pressure infiltration, Alumina forms with different porosity (15~70vol %) and pore morphology were fabricated by Freeze and Dry Process and Partial Sintering Process. Alumina/aluminum composites were made by the squeeze casting. The composites contained the different volume fraction of aluminum depending on the initial porosity of the ceramics form. The coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) and thermal conductivity of composites were measured. The results indicated clearly that variation of the structure of porous ceramics form fairly affected CTE but the effects on thermal conductivity were small.

Abstract: The sliding wear behavior of ultra high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE) was examined on four different compositions of novel low temperature degradation-free zirconia/alumina (Z/A) composite material used for a femoral head in total hip joint replacement. The wear of UHMWPE pins against these Z/A composite disks were evaluated by performing the linear reciprocal sliding and repeat pass rotational sliding tests for one million cycles in a bovine serum. The novel low temperature degradation (LTD)-free tetragonal zirconia polycrystal (TZP)/alumina composite (90(5.3Y, 4.6Nb)-TZP/10Al2O3) induced the less wear amount of UHMWPE than the other Z/A composites. Linear reciprocal motion wore more the UHMWPE pin than did repeat pass rotational motion for all disk materials. It was observed that few transfer film on the sliding track of Z/A composite disks and the matching contact surfaces of pins had relatively less scratch. Getting rid of transfer film, there is no change of surface roughness on the sliding track of Z/A composite disks. This novel Z/A composite (90(5.3Y, 4.6Nb)-TZP/10 Al2O3) demonstrates the potential as an alternative material for the femoral head in total hip replacement.

Abstract: This study evaluated the wear performance of cobalt-chromium, zirconia and alumina/zirconia composite heads against moderately crosslinked ultra-high-molecular-weight polyethylene liners under different temperature conditions. A temperature control unit was utilized to allow direct cooling/heating the head components at 4, 20, 37 and 45 °C in addition to the conventional no temperature control method. Results showed that the polyethylene wear was affected by the coolant temperature. The CoCrMo and the alumina/zirconia groups had similar wear rate without temperature control, however, the CoCrMo group generated 50% more wear than the alumina/zirconia group did when the coolant temperatures were above 20 °C. The zirconia group had the lowest wear rate of the three groups in all temperature conditions. The monoclinic phase content of the zirconia heads were about 0.2 M% before the test and 6.0 M% after the test, while the X-ray diffraction remained similar before and after the test in alumina/zirconia composite heads. The current study was able to reproduce the phase transformation of zirconia ceramics as reported in some clinical retrieval reports. A temperature control feature is recommended in a wear study in order to better simulate implant wear performance under the physiological condition in human body.