Computational Contact Pressure Prediction of CoCrMo, SS 316L and Ti6Al4V Femoral Head against UHMWPE Acetabular Cup under Gait Cycle

Due to various concerns about the use of metal-on-metal that is detrimental to users, the use of metal as acetabular cup material was later changed to ultra high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE). However, the wear on UHMWPE releases polyethylene wear particles, which can trigger a negative body response and contribute to osteolysis. For reducing the wear of polyethylene, one of the efforts is to investigate the selection of metal materials. Cobalt chromium molybdenum (CoCrMo), stainless steel 316L (SS 316L), and titanium alloy (Ti6Al4V) are the frequently employed materials. The computational evaluation of contact pressure was carried out using a two-dimensional axisymmetric model for UHMWPE acetabular cup paired with metal femoral head under gait cycle in this study. The results show Ti6Al4V-on-UHMWPE is able to reduce cumulative contact pressure compared to SS 316L-on-UHMWPE and CoCrMo-on-UHMWPE. Compared to Ti6Al4V-on-UHMWPE at peak loading, the difference in cumulative contact pressure to respective maximum contact pressure is 9.740% for SS 316L-on-UHMWPE and 11.038% for CoCrMo-on-UHMWPE.

Automated summary

This study computationally evaluated the contact pressure between UHMWPE acetabular cup and metal femoral head, and found that Ti6Al4V-on-UHMWPE can reduce cumulative contact pressure.