Biotribocorrosion of implants
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Date
2016
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Publisher
Springer
Abstract
Biotribocorrosion can be broadly defined as all the aspects of tribocorrosion, i.e. the degradation of surfaces by the combined effect of corrosion and wear, related to biological systems. Whereas tribology alone, also known as frictioncorrosion, corrosion-wear, wear-corrosion or (micro) abrasion-corrosion, is concerned with the phenomena occurring at the interface of surfaces in mutual motion (friction, lubrication and wear), corrosion is the science and engineering of chemical and electrochemical reactions at the interface between a material and the environment it is exposed to. In the case of biotribocorrosion, the environment is necessarily that of a living organism or a combination of living organisms (biofilm). Although all materials may suffer biotribocorrosion it is especially pronounced in case of metallic alloys due to the electrochemical nature of their interaction with aqueous media such as the interior of a human body. Both corrosion and wear result in the weight loss over the exposed surface; however, the total weight loss of a tribosystem immersed in a corrosive environment is larger than a simple sum of the losses caused by corrosion and wear alone. In this chapter the principles of biotribocorrosion are presented and discussed for the specific case of alloys typically used in replacement of large joints. Since all the involved processes occur at the surface of the metal, first, the description of technical and natural surfaces is provided. The various interactions with environment and third bodies are then discussed, followed by a review of the methods of testing and mitigation of surface damage applicable for medical implants.