Wear behaviour of cobalt-chromium-molybdenum alloys used in metal-on-metal hip implants

The influence of carbon (C) content, microstructure, crystallography and mechanical properties on the wear behaviour of metal-on-metal (MM) hip implants made from commercially available cobalt-chromium-molybdenum (CoCrMo) alloys designated as American Society of Testing and Materials (ASTM) grade F1537, F75 and as-cast were studied in this work. The as-received bars of wrought CoCrMo alloys (ASTM F1537 of either about 0.05% or 0.26% C) were each subjected to various heat treatments to develop different microstructures. Pin and plate specimens were fabricated from each bar and were tested against each other using a linear reciprocating pin-on-plate apparatus in 25% by volume bovine serum solution. The applied normal load was 9.81 N and the reciprocating plate had a sinusoidal velocity with an average speed of 26 mm/s. The wear was measured gravimetrically and it was found to be most strongly affected by alloy C content, irrespective of grain size or carbide morphology. More precisely, the wear behaviour was directly correlated to the dissolved C content of the alloys. Increased C in solid-solution coincided with lower volumetric wear since C helps to stabilize the face-centred cubic (FCC) crystal structure thus limiting the amount of strain induced transformation (SIT) to the hexagonal close-packed crystal structure (HCP). Based on the observed surface twinning in and around the contact zone and the potentially detrimental effect of the HCP phase, it was postulated that the MM wear behaviour of CoCrMo alloys in the present study was controlled by a deformation mechanism, rather than corrosion or tribochemical reactions.