Fatigue crack propagation resistance of virgin and highly crosslinked, thermally treated ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene

Gencur, Sara J.; Rimnac, Clare M.; Kurtz, Steven M.

doi:10.1016/j.biomaterials.2005.09.010

Cited by 118 publications

(99 citation statements)

References 16 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…The fatigue strength increases with crystallinity and decreases with crosslinking [5,34,45,79,81]. While conventional UHMWPE has high crystallinity and fatigue strength in its unaged form, its fatigue resistance is severely deteriorated due to oxidation [58,66].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Postirradiation melting renders crosslinked UHMWPE oxidation-resistant by allowing these residual free radicals trapped in the crystalline regions [8,40] to recombine. However, the postirradiation melting step reduces the fatigue strength of irradiated UHMWPE [34], which is already decreased by crosslinking [58], due to a decrease in crystallinity that accompanies postirradiation melting.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Vitamin E-stabilized UHMWPE for Total Joint Implants: A Review

Bracco

Oral

2011

Clinical Orthopaedics &Amp; Related Research

256

162

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Background Osteolysis due to wear of UHMWPE limits the longevity of joint arthroplasty. Oxidative degradation of UHMWPE gamma-sterilized in air increases its wear while decreasing mechanical strength. Vitamin E stabilization of UHMWPE was proposed to improve oxidation resistance while maintaining wear resistance and fatigue strength. Questions/purposes We reviewed the preclinical research on the development and testing of vitamin E-stabilized UHMWPE with the following questions in mind: (1) What is the rationale behind protecting irradiated UHMWPE against oxidation by vitamin E? (2) What are the effects of vitamin E on the microstructure, tribologic, and mechanical properties of irradiated UHMWPE? (3) Is vitamin E expected to affect the periprosthetic tissue negatively? Methods We performed searches in PubMed, Scopus, and Science Citation Index to review the development of vitamin E-stabilized UHMWPEs and their feasibility as clinical implants.Results The rationale for using vitamin E in UHMWPE was twofold: improving oxidation resistance of irradiated UHMWPEs and fatigue strength of irradiated UHMWPEs with an alternative to postirradiation melting. Vitamin E-stabilized UHMWPE showed oxidation resistance superior to that of irradiated UHMWPEs with detectable residual free radicals. It showed equivalent wear and improved mechanical strength compared to irradiated and melted UHMWPE. The biocompatibility was confirmed by simulating elution, if any, of the antioxidant from implants.Conclusions Vitamin E-stabilized UHMWPE offers a joint arthroplasty technology with good mechanical, wear, and oxidation properties. Clinical Relevance Vitamin E-stabilized, irradiated UHMWPEs were recently introduced clinically. The rationale behind using vitamin E and in vitro tests comparing its performance to older materials are of great interest for improving longevity of joint arthroplasties.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Vitamin E-stabilized UHMWPE for Total Joint Implants: A Review

Bracco

Oral

2011

Clinical Orthopaedics &Amp; Related Research

256

162

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Crack propagation in UHMWPE is dominated by noncyclic phenomena [7], although it is typical to quantify the crack propagation resistance of the material under cyclic loading conditions [3,7,8,12]. We asked whether (1) cracks would initiate from acute notches and stably propagate under static loading with a velocity dependent on crosslinking radiation dose, (2) crack propagation under static loading would result in quantitatively similar material crack propagation resistance data to those obtained under cyclic loading conditions, and (3) specimen failure time under a static load would yield a similar evaluation of material crack propagation resistance as crack velocity under a static or cyclic applied load.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Currently, the fatigue performance of a UHMWPE formulation is evaluated chiefly by its resistance to fatigue crack propagation under cyclic loading conditions [3,8,12]. The stress intensity at the inception of crack growth K incep (often reported as DK incep for cyclic loading) has been used to establish the minimum conditions for detectable and stable crack growth (typically about 10 À6 mm/cycle) and is commonly compared between formulations to establish relative fatigue resistance [3].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The stress intensity at the inception of crack growth K incep (often reported as DK incep for cyclic loading) has been used to establish the minimum conditions for detectable and stable crack growth (typically about 10 À6 mm/cycle) and is commonly compared between formulations to establish relative fatigue resistance [3]. A relative decrease in K incep generally shifts the stable crack propagation uniformly to lower values of stress intensity [3,8,12], and such a shift is known to accompany crosslinking in UHMWPE [3,8,12]. The reduced toughness and crack propagation resistance of crosslinked formulations of UHMWPE are of interest for clinical applications, particularly in light of recently reported cases of brittle damage or catastrophic fracture of highly crosslinked THA bearings [4][5][6]15].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Crack Propagation Resistance Is Similar Under Static and Cyclic Loading in Crosslinked UHMWPE: A Pilot Study

Furmanski

Rimnac

2011

Clinical Orthopaedics &Amp; Related Research

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Background Recent work suggests crack phenomena (eg, crack initiation and propagation) in UHMWPE do not depend on cyclic damage mechanisms. Materials for which crack phenomena occur in static (noncyclic) mode should exhibit similar crack propagation behavior under static and cyclic loading conditions. Questions/purposes Do cracks in UHMWPE stably propagate from acute notches under static loading with a velocity dependent on crosslink density? Are materialranking evaluations for crack propagation resistance similar under static and cyclic loading conditions? Does time to failure for a notched specimen under static loads yield the same material rankings as crack propagation data? Methods Notched compact tension specimens were machined from UHMWPE gamma-irradiated with a 0-, 50-, 75-, or 100-kGy dose and subsequently remelted. Static loads were applied until failure occurred or 2 weeks had elapsed. Crack propagation rates and time to failure were recorded and compared to data from cyclic experiments. Results Static and cyclic loading both produced stable crack propagation and similar performance rankings of material groups, except in the case of the unirradiated material, which did not fail under static loads. Normalized measures of crack propagation velocities generally showed quantitative agreement between the two methods. Normalized time to failure under static loading also agreed well with crack propagation velocity. Conclusions Crack propagation under static loading produced qualitatively and quantitatively similar performance results as those under cyclic loading. Time to failure under static loads corresponded closely with the crack propagation velocity and may itself be a robust metric of crack propagation resistance. Clinical Relevance Total joint arthroplasties may experience superficial cracking in the UHMWPE bearing surface or catastrophic fracture. Quantifying resistance to crack phenomena in UHWMPE is important to design engineers and to clinicians using crosslinked UHMWPE materials under challenging mechanical conditions.

show abstract

New Application of Radiation Crosslinking

2011

Radiation Processing of Polymer Materials and Its Industrial Applications

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Fatigue crack propagation resistance of virgin and highly crosslinked, thermally treated ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene

Cited by 118 publications

References 16 publications

Vitamin E-stabilized UHMWPE for Total Joint Implants: A Review

Vitamin E-stabilized UHMWPE for Total Joint Implants: A Review

Crack Propagation Resistance Is Similar Under Static and Cyclic Loading in Crosslinked UHMWPE: A Pilot Study

New Application of Radiation Crosslinking

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About