Fretting Wear Study of PEEK-Based Composites for Bio-implant Application

The failure caused by fretting wear is a key issue in orthopedic applications as well as other engineering applications. In this study, fretting wear tests were conducted on poly (ether ether ketone) (PEEK), glass fiber reinforced PEEK (GFRPEEK) and carbon fiber reinforced PEEK (CFRPEEK), respectively. Surface characterizations of tested specimens were performed using XRD, microhardness tester, 3D white-light interfering profilometry, SEM and optical microscopy to analyze their wear features. The obtained results showed that the fibers increased the microhardness values and reduced the friction coefficients and wear rates of PEEK-based composites. The fretting regimes of PEEK, GFRPEEK and CFRPEEK were gross slip. The fretting wear mechanisms of those PEEK composites were dominated by abrasive wear, adhesive wear and delamination. CFRPEEK has demonstrated superior fretting wear characteristics, and hence, is a potential bio-implant material for applications such as artificial joints.