Study for Possible Crack Propagation Mechanisms for a Surface Cracked in a Polyethylene Tibia Component Subject to Rolling and Sliding Contact

구름마찰접촉하중 시 Polyethylene tibia 요소의 표면균열 복합전파 거동에 관한 연구

Pitting wear is a dominant form of polyethylene surface damage in total knee replacements, and may originate from surface cracks that propagate under repeated tribological contact. In this study, stress intensity factors, $K_{I}$ and $K_{II}$, were calculated for a surface crack in a polyethylene - CoCr - bone system under the rolling and/or sliding contact pressures. Crack length and load location were considered in determination of probable crack propagation mechanisms and fracture modes. Positive $K_{I}$ values were obtained for shorter cracks in rolling contact and for all crack lengths when the sliding load was apart from the crack. $K_{II}$, was the greatest when the load was directly adjacent to the crack $(g/a={\pm}1)$. Sliding friction caused a substantial increase of both $K_{I}^{max}$ and $K_{II}^{max}$. The effective Mode I stress intensity factors, $K_{eff}$, were the greatest at $g/a={\pm}1$, showing the significance of high shear stresses generated by loads adjacent to surface cracks. Such behavior of $K_{eff}$ suggests mechanisms for surface pitting by which surface cracks may propagate along their original plane under repeated rolling or sliding contact.