A Cutting-Edge Survey of Tribological Behavior Evaluation Using Artificial and Computational Intelligence Models

Any metal surface’s usefulness is essential in various applications such as machining and welding and aerospace and aerodynamic applications. There is a great deal of wear in metals, used widely in machines and appliances. The gradual loss of the upper metal layers in all metal parts is inevitable over the machine or component’s lifetime. Artificial intelligence implementations and computational models are being studied to evaluate different metals’ tribological behavior, as technological progress has been made in this field. Different neural networks were used for different metals. They are classified in this paper, together with a description of their benefits and inconveniences and an overview and use of the different types of wear. Artificial intelligence is a relatively new term that uses mechanical engineering. There is still no scientific progress to examine various metal wear cases and compare AI and computational models’ accuracy in wear behavior.

Chromium and cobalt intoxication mimicking mitochondriopathy

A 53-year old male with a history of progressive visual impairment, hearing loss, peripheral neuropathy, poorly controlled diabetes mellitus, cardiomyopathy, and weight loss was referred to the rare disease center due to the suspicion of mitochondrial cytopathy. In line with mitochondrial dysfunction, lactate in CSF was increased. Genetic testing by whole-exome sequencing and mitochondrial DNA did not reveal a likely cause. The case remained unsolved until he developed pain in his right hip, where he had received total hip arthroplasty 12 years earlier. An orthopedic evaluation revealed substantial shrinkage of the head of the hip prosthesis. Due to metal-on-metal wear, debris chromium and cobalt levels in serum were massively increased and significantly improved with multisystemic impairment after exchanging the defective implant.

The Wear of Seal Fins during High-Speed Rub between Labyrinth Seal Fins and Honeycomb Stators at Different Incursion Rates

Labyrinth seals as a noncontact sealing technology are widely used in aero-engine. To improve the efficiency of the aero-engine, the clearance between the rotor and stator must be as small as possible. However, the change of the clearance between the rotor and stator because of thermal expansion, vibration, mechanical loading may lead to undesirable high-speed rub, which will lead to the cracking of the seal fins. This paper focuses on the wear of the seal fin after the rub and presents the rubbing tests between seal fins and the metal honeycomb under rubbing speed of 380 m/s and incursion rates between 20 and 180 μm/s, with an incursion depth of 1500 μm and a temperature of 350 °C. The rubbing force and temperature were recorded, and the seal fins were checked by SEM and EDS. The results show that the wear mechanism of seal fins changed from oxidation wear and adhesive wear to delamination wear and then to metal wear with the increasing incursion rate. The axial cracks appeared on the worn surface of the seal fins due to the cracking of tribo-layers under periodic thermomechanical stress. The wear mechanism of the seal fin also has a great influence on the rubbing force and temperature.

Suitability of a Progenitor Cell-Enriching Device for In Vitro Applications

Rigenera® is a novel class-1 medical device that produces micro-grafts enriched of progenitors cells without ex vivo manipulation of donor tissues. The manufacturer’s protocol has been supported for a wide variety of clinical uses in the field of regenerative medicine. This study aimed to evaluate its potential use for in vitro cell models. Human primary oral fibroblasts were cultured under standard conditions and processed through Rigenera® over a time course of up to 5 min. Cell viability was assessed using a Trypan Blue exclusion test. It is possible to process fibroblasts through Rigenera® although an initial reduction of cell viability was observed. Additionally, debris was evident in the cell suspension of the processed samples. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) microanalysis of the debris and electron energy-loss spectroscopy confirmed the presence of metal wear possibly due to the processing conditions used in this study. Interestingly, pore sizes within Rigeneracons® grids were found to range between 250–400 μm. This is the first report assessing the suitability of Rigenera® and Rigeneracons® for in vitro applications. Whilst Rigenera® workflow was found to be amenable to laboratory uses, our results strongly suggest that further research and development is necessary to support the utilization of this technology for enrichment of micro-graft derived cells and cell sorting in vitro.

The effect of TNF-α on osteoblasts in metal wear-induced periprosthetic bone loss

Aims This study aimed to examine the effects of tumour necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) on osteoblasts in metal wear-induced bone loss. Methods TNF-α immunoexpression was examined in periprosthetic tissues of patients with failed metal-on-metal hip arthroplasties and also in myeloid MM6 cells after treatment with cobalt ions. Viability and function of human osteoblast-like SaOs-2 cells treated with recombinant TNF-α were studied by immunofluorescence, terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase-mediated dUTP nick end labelling (TUNEL) assay, western blotting, and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Results Macrophages, lymphocytes, and endothelial cells displayed strong TNF-α immunoexpression in periprosthetic tissues containing metal wear debris. Colocalization of TNF-α with the macrophage marker CD68 and the pan-T cell marker CD3 confirmed TNF-α expression in these cells. Cobalt-treated MM6 cells secreted more TNF-α than control cells, reflecting the role of metal wear products in activating the TNF-α pathway in the myeloid cells. While TNF-α did not alter the immunoexpression of the TNF-receptor 1 (TNF-R1) in SaOs-2 cells, it increased the release of the soluble TNF-receptor 1 (sTNF-R1). There was also evidence for TNF-α-induced apoptosis. TNF-α further elicited the expression of the endoplasmic reticulum stress markers inositol-requiring enzyme (IRE)-1α, binding-immunoglobulin protein (BiP), and endoplasmic oxidoreductin1 (Ero1)-Lα. In addition, TNF-α decreased pro-collagen I α 1 secretion without diminishing its synthesis. TNF-α also induced an inflammatory response in SaOs-2 cells, as evidenced by the release of reactive oxygen and nitrogen species and the proinflammatory cytokine vascular endothelial growth factor. Conclusion The results suggest a novel osteoblastic mechanism, which could be mediated by TNF-α and may be involved in metal wear debris-induced periprosthetic bone loss. Cite this article: Bone Joint Res 2020;9(11):827–839.