Most total knee replacement joints consist of a metal femoral component made from a cobalt-chromium- molybdenum (CoCrMo)-alloy and a tibial component with an ultrahigh molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE) bearing surface. Wear of the UHMWPE remains the primary disadvantage of these implants. The allergic potential ascribed to CoCrMo-alloys is a further concern. Other metallic alloys with and without ceramic coatings are clinically used to avoid these problems. This study compared the mechanical surface properties of an oxidized zirconium alloy with those of cast and wrought CoCrMo and TiAlV6-4. Additionally, the influence of a titanium nitride (TiN)-plasma coating on the surface properties was investigated. The composition of the oxidized zirconium layer was analyzed. Micro- and macrohardness tests as well as adhesion tests were used to reveal material differences in terms of their abrasive wear potential in artificial joints.

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A compact, integrated photoluminescence based oxygen and pH sensor, utilizing an organic light emitting device (OLED) as the light source and an organic photodiode (OPD) as the detection unit, is described. The main challenge in such an integrated sensor is the suppression of the excitation light at the detector, which is typically by many orders of magnitude higher in intensity than the emitted fluorescence. In our approach, we refrain from utilizing edge filters which require narrow band excitation sources and dyes with an adequate large Stokes shift. We rather developed an integrated sensor concept relying on two polarizers to separate the emission and excitation light. One polarizer is located right after the OLED, while the other one, oriented at 90° to the first, is placed in front of the OPD. The main advantage of this solution is that any combination of excitation and emission light is acceptable, even if the two signals overlap spectrally. This is especially important for the use of OLEDs as the excitation sources, as these devices typically exhibit a broad spectral emission.

Improving the creep resistance of the matrix by alloying with refractory elements is a major strengthening effect in nickel-based superalloy with rhenium as one of the most effective elements. In this work the influence of rhenium on creep properties of single-phase single crystals with varying rhenium content and matrix near composition is investigated. The use of single crystalline material leads to very distinct results which are not deteriorated by grain boundary effects. So the strengthening effect can be solely attributed to the alloying element rhenium and is quantified for the first time. By comparing the creep strength of two matrix compositions with the corresponding single crystal superalloys using the threshold stress concept the potential of creep strengthening of the matrix in two phase single crystal alloys is quantified.