Title: Long-term steady state friction and wear rate estimation of ZTA against AZ31 alloy under different bio-lubricants for hip prosthesis - an in-vitro study

Authors: R. Nithyaprakash; S. Shankar; R. Naveenkumar; R. Gokul Anand; S. Vasanth; Chander Prakash; Alokesh Pramanik; Animesh Kumar Basak

Addresses: Department of Mechatronics Engineering, Kongu Engineering College, Erode, 638-060, Tamil Nadu, India ' Nandha Engineering College, Erode, Tamil Nadu 638052, India; Karpagam Institute of Technology, Coimbatore, 641-105, India ' Department of Mechanical Engineering, Kongu Engineering College, Erode, 638-060, Tamil Nadu, India ' Department of Mechatronics Engineering, Kongu Engineering College, Erode, 638-060, Tamil Nadu, India ' Department of Mechatronics Engineering, Kongu Engineering College, Erode, 638-060, Tamil Nadu, India ' University Centre for Research and Development, Chandigarh University, Mohali, Punjab, 140413, India ' School of Civil and Mechanical Engineering, Curtin University, Bentley, WA, Australia ' Adelaide Microscopy, The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA 5005, Australia

Abstract: The present study focuses on in-vitro bio-tribological study of ZTA against AZ31 alloy, in estimating friction and wear rate for long-term sliding distance of 40 km using Ball-on-Disc (B-o-D) tribometer for human hip prosthesis. The bio-lubricants considered for current study includes saline solution, Ringer's solution, distilled water, phosphate buffered saline (PBS) and sesame oil with B-o-D load of 20 N. Sesame oil exhibited least coefficient of friction (CoF) of 0.35 and maximum CoF of 0.42 is obtained for saline solution. Later, wear rate of ZTA is obtained for all these bio-lubricants and found that sesame oil exhibited least wear rate (K) of 8.55 × 10^-6 mm³/Nm and maximum (K) of 1.25 × 10^-5 mm³/Nm obtained for saline solution. The scanning electron microscope (SEM) micrograph depicted the mechanism behind these wear behaviour under different bio-lubricants, which revealed that, formation of tribo-film under sesame oil bio-lubricant medium could improve longevity of implants.

Keywords: ZTA; MgAZ31; ball-on-disc; B-o-D; bio-lubricants; long-term; bio-tribology.

DOI: 10.1504/IJSURFSE.2025.148143

International Journal of Surface Science and Engineering, 2025 Vol.19 No.3, pp.242 - 256

Received: 20 Aug 2024
Accepted: 21 Dec 2024
Published online: 27 Aug 2025 *

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