Finite Element Analysis of the Lower Extrtemity - Hinge Knee Behavior Under Dynamic Load

A key goal of joint endoprosthesis is to become a full-featured functional and anatomical replacement. The joint damage may occur for several reasons - primarily a disease of different nature and magnitude, resulting in gradual and irreversible changes and in an extreme solution in the implantation of artificial joints. However, there should be also mentioned accidents leading to joint destruction, which are often "trigger mechanism" of the disease. This work therefore presents a dynamic computational finite element analysis of a hinge-type knee replacement, which aim to streamline and accelerate the development of knee endoprosthesis. It tackles a question of the overall strength of the implant and detects sites of elevated concentrations of stresses that may be potential sources of implant damages. It also studies the behavior of the endoprosthesis under dynamic loads with emphasis on the study of the shape and size of the contact surfaces, which are closely related to the size of the contact pressure and material wear. Aside the hinged knee replacement, the computational model consisted of femur, fibula, tibia, patella and 25 most important muscles of the lower limb. Due to realistic definition of the boundary conditions, this model is suitable for investigation of invivo knee joint replacement behavior.

Wear Resistance of Ti–6Al–4V Alloy Ball Heads for Use in Implants

The effect of thermohydrogen treatment and vacuum ion–plasma nitriding on the determination of the volume and surface structure of ball heads made of Ti–6Al–4V alloy was studied. It was found that the submicrocrystalline structure formed in the head during thermohydrogen treatment makes it possible to achieve hardness values of 39–41 units HRC and a surface roughness of 0.02 μm. It was shown that the creation of a modified layer consisting of ε (TiN) and δ (Ti2N) titanium nitrides on the surface of a ball head and the solid interstitial solution of nitrogen in α-titanium makes it possible to completely eliminate material wear when testing for friction on ultra-high-molecular-weight polyethylene. The equivalent analysis was also conducted with a ball head that had been implanted in a human body for 12 years. It was found that the change in the color of the head, from slightly golden after nitriding to metallic, is due to the formation of an oxynitride nanoscale layer on the surface. It was shown that in contrast with films made of titanium oxide, the film developed in this study has high wear resistance.

The Small Molecule Components of Human Synovial Fluid and Bovine Calf Serum that Correlate with Cobalt Chrome (CoCrMo) Wear

Background:Implant wear in joint replacements is influenced by the chemical and physical properties of human synovial fluid (HSF). In vitro testing for implant wear uses 25% weight bovine calf serum (25BCS) to substitute for HSF, due to similar rheology and total protein content. However, previous studies have shown differences in the macromolecular composition. We aimed to evaluate the differences in small molecule composition between fluids and correlate these differences with their effects on implant material wear.Methods:HSF was harvested from osteoarthritis patients undergoing primary knee replacement (n=14). Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy with linear regression modelling analysed the metabolites present in HSF and commercially sourced 25BCS and investigated the differences. Wear properties of the fluids were evaluated using a validated quantitative laboratory bench-test utilising a cobalt/chromium/molybdenum (CoCrMo) ball oscillating against a CoCrMo disc and analysing the resulting wear scar. The variation in metabolite levels in both HSF and 25BCS was correlated to the wear properties of the fluids.Results:Differences in the levels of metabolites, lipids, and glycosaminoglycans (GAG) were observed between HSF and 25BCS: significance was confirmed by O-PLS-DA (p<0.05). The wear of CoCrMo was found to strongly correlate with the macromolecules GAG and proteins that potentially bind to glucose and citrate. Conclusions:The small molecule concentration differences between the fluids questions the validity of 25BCS as a model for wear analysis. The demonstration of variable metabolites present in HSF which correlate with material wear has implications for implant failure and targeted therapeutic manipulation of these metabolites. Trial Registration:Ethical approval was granted by the NRES Committee London, Chelsea, UK on the 12th May 2015. The study was performed in accordance with the ethical standards in the 1964 Declaration of Helsinki.

BUBBLE DYNAMICS-BASED MODELING OF THE CAVITATION DYNAMICS IN LUBRICATED CONTACTS

Cavitation is a common phenomenon in fluid machinery and lubricated contacts. In lubricated contacts, there is a presumption that the short-term tensile stresses at the onset of bubble formation have an influence on material wear. To investigate the duration and magnitude of tensile stresses in lubricating films using numerical simulation, a suitable simulation model must be developed. The chosen simulation approach with bubble dynamics is based on the coupling of the Reynolds equation and Rayleigh-Plesset equation (introduced about 20 years ago by Someya).Following the basic approach from the author’s earlier papers on the negative squeeze motion with bubble dynamics for the simulation of mixed lubrication of rough surfaces, the paper at hand shows modifications to the Rayleigh-Plesset equation that are required to get the time scale for the dynamic processes right. This additional term is called the dilatational viscosity term, and it significantly influences the behavior of the numerical model.

Novel three-body nano-abrasive wear mechanism

Current three-body abrasive wear theories are based on a macroscale abrasive indentation process, and these theories claim that material wear cannot be achieved without damaging the hard mating surface. In this study, the process of three-body nano-abrasive wear of a system including a single crystalline silicon substrate, an amorphous silica cluster, and a polyurethane pad, based on a chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) process, is investigated via molecular dynamics simulations. The cluster slid in a suspended state in smooth regions and underwent rolling impact in the asperity regions of the silicon surface, realizing non-damaging monoatomic material removal. This proves that indentation-plowing is not necessary when performing CMP material removal. Therefore, a non-indentation rolling-sliding adhesion theory for three-body nano-abrasive wear between ultrasoft/hard mating surfaces is proposed. This wear theory not only unifies current mainstream CMP material removal theories, but also clarifies that monoatomic material wear without damage can be realized when the indentation depth is less than zero, thereby perfecting the relationship between material wear and surface damage. These results provide new understanding regarding the CMP microscopic material removal mechanism as well as new research avenues for three-body abrasive wear theory at the monoatomic scale.

Tribotechnical properties of sintered friction material based on copper with the additives of the ultrafine powder of aluminide of Ti–46Al–8Cr system

The article presents the results of study of the effect of additives of an ultrafine powder of the Ti–46Al–8Cr system obtained by MASHS on the tribotechnical properties of a friction material based on BrO6 bronze. It is shown that in the range of powder additive concentrations 0.5–1.5 wt. %, the dynamic coefficient of friction increases from 0.04 to 0.055, in the range of 1.5–2.5 % – to 0.055–0.058. The introduction of the 0.5–1.0 % Ti–46Al–8Cr powder permitted to reduce the wear rate of the friction material from 4.0 to 3.7 μm/km. An increase in the additive to 2.5 % led to an increase in the material wear rate up to 6 μm/km.

The Evaluation of the Effectiveness of Reinforcement by Cemented-Carbide Plates in Two Design Variants of the Chisels Intended for Cultivation–Sowing Aggregates

Field tribological tests of two design variants of chisels used in the teeth of a cultivation-sowing unit were carried out in this research. A characteristic feature of the first variant of chisels was the reinforcement of their contact surface and almost the entire rake surface by plates made of cemented carbides. On the other hand, the second variant of chisels was reinforced only in the area of the blade by two plates made of cemented carbides, soldered on the rake face of the elements. The use of the first variant of chisels contributed to a significant reduction in the wear rate of elements, especially in terms of thickness and width loss. Effective reinforcement of the rake face, with relatively lower resistance to length reduction in the elements, raises doubts as to the validity of the use of cemented-carbide plates on almost the entire length of their rake face, because the applied variant of chisels contributed to a significantly higher price. However, the second variant of chisels effectively limited the intensity of the loss of the length of the elements, and the cause of the loss of their usefulness as part of the base material wear. It was found that the main wear mechanism of the cemented-carbide plates consisted of matrix removal under the influence of the finest fraction of the soil, which weakened the embedding of carbides, and then crushing or chipping of carbide grains from the matrix, whereas the dominant wear mechanisms of martensitic steel were grooving and micro-cutting.

Influence of Lateral Movement on Level Behavior of Adhesion Force Measured Repeatedly by an Atomic Force Microscope (AFM) Colloid Probe in Dry Conditions

An atomic force microscope (AFM) was operated to repeatedly measure the adhesion forces between a polystyrene colloid probe and a gold film, with and without lateral movement in dry conditions. Experimental results show that the adhesion force shows a level behavior without lateral movement and with a small scan distance: the data points are grouped into several levels, and the adhesion force jumps between different levels frequently. This was attributed to the fact that when the cantilever pulls off the sample, the contact area of the sample is not exactly the same between successive contacts and jumps randomly from one to another. Both lateral velocity and material wear have little influence on level behavior. However, with a medium scan distance, level behavior is observed only for some measurements, and adhesion forces are randomly distributed for the other measurements. With a large scan distance, adhesion forces are randomly distributed for all measurements. This was attributed to the fact that the cantilever pulls off the sample in many different contact areas on the scanning path for large distances. These results may help understand the influence of lateral movement and imply the contribution of asperities to adhesion force.

Welding and Thermal Spray Processes for Maintenance of Hydraulic Turbine Runners: Case Studies

Hydraulic runners are susceptible to failures by cracks or wear by erosion, corrosion, or cavitation. The modern runners are fabricated in carbon steel and martensitic stainless steel. Arc welding processes normally do the repair of eroded areas, or cracked parts. Each material or type of repair needs specific criteria, procedures, and precautions to guarantee their success and prevent future issues, like the recurrence of the cracks or reduction of the useful life of the runner by modifications of the original material. Wear-resistant coatings are applied by welding or by thermal spray processes, considering this last one has no metallurgical interaction with the material of the runner, keeping the original properties of the material. For several years the companies Copel GeT, Lactec, UTFPR, and UFPR collaborate on the study of different techniques, methods, and processes to repair hydraulic runners, this work aims to present a short compilation, and examples of some results obtained applied on real runners.

Facial features of the Paleocene-Eocene deposits of advanced units of the Skyba zone of Ukrainian Carpathians

There three main types of facies of Paleocene-Eocene complexes: sandy, siltstone and argillite distinguished within the study area by the nature of the distribution of the strata of the forming components were highlighted. Тhey accumulated avalanche at the foot of the continental slope and formed various facial parts of the foehn (Upper, Middle and Lower foehn). In the upper part of the Foehn was accumulated coarse-grained sediments (clusters of deep boulders and other psephyto-psammitic material containing edaphogenic rocks). Under the action of geostrophic and bottom currents, silt streams of pelitic and psammitic material moved in the direction to the south and south-east of the Carpathian sedimentation basin, forming sandy-clay and clay facies (Middle and Lower foehn). During the turbidite movement of a large amount of sediment from the first (shelf) to the second (foot of the continental slope) level of avalanche sedimentation, sorting and distribution of sediments on the continental slope took place. Based on the analysis of the material composition of Paleocene-Eocene sediments of the study area by such criteria as the size of the fragment, sedimentary textures and the ratio of different rocks, 7 facies were identified, which were deposited as gravitational flows down on the continental slope. Reconstructions of Paleocene-Eocene age flysch deposits showed that terrigene material in the studied sedimentation basin came from two sources – one of which was northwest of the study area and was characterized by a predominance of coarse-grained sandy sediments, while the source wear, which was in the central part of the studied basin was characterized by a predominance of clay silt and fine-grained psammitic material. This nature of the distribution of terrigenous material had a decisive influence on the further formation of Paleocene end Eocene sedimentary strata in the process of sedimentogenesis and post-sedimentary transformations of sediments, and on the formation of reservoir rocks and rocks with potential reservoir properties for hydrocarbon exploration. It has been established that the composition of the Psamitolites of the flysch formation of the Paleocene and Eocene ages of the Carpathians was formed on the passive continental margin or in the inland and boundary seas, and their genesis mostly corresponds only to the platform source of material wear.