Surface damage of metallic implants due to mechanical loading and chemical reactions

The present study investigates interfacial damage mechanism of modular implants due to synergetic action of mechanical contact loading and corrosion. Modular implants are manufactured such that surfaces have a characteristic degree of roughness determined by tool tip size and motion of tool path or feeding speed. The central hypothesis for this work is that during contact loading of metallic implants, mechanisms of damage and dissolution are determined by contact loads, plastic deformation, residual stresses and environmental conditions at the nanoscale surface asperities; while during subsequent rest periods, mechanism of metallic dissolution is determined by the environmental conditions and residual stress field induced due to long range elastic interactions of the plastically deformed asperities. First part of the thesis is focused on investigating the mechanisms underlying surface roughness evolution due to stress-assisted dissolution during the rest period. The latter part is focused on investigating material removal mechanisms during single asperity contact of implant surfaces.;Experimental study was performed to elucidate the roughness evolution mechanism by combined effect of multi-asperity contact and environmental corrosion. Cobalt-chromium-molybdenum specimen was subjected to either contact loading alone or alternating contact loading and exposure to reactive environment. Roughness of the specimen surface was monitored by optical profilometry and Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) calculation was used to characterize the evolving behavior of roughness modes. Finite element analysis (FEA) was employed to identify influences of surface morphological configurations and contact pressures on the residual stress development. Analytical model of multi-asperity contact has been developed for prediction of residual stress field for different roughness configurations during varying magnitude of contact loads based on elastic inclusion theory. Experimental results indicate that surface roughness undergoes continuous evolution during alternating contact loading and exposure to etchant. Surface roughness evolution is governed by the residual stress induced due to contact loading. Two different stress-assisted dissolution driven instabilities in roughness evolution have been identified.;In order to investigate stressed surface damage by electrochemical reaction during active contact loading, in the first stage, surface failure due to sliding contact was investigated as a function of different residual stress states from compressive to tensile. Residual stress is usually developed during manufacturing process or former mechanical interactions playing an important role on service life of the surface. The wear mechanism of fatigue contact in the presence of residual stresses was explored by analytical model of fatigue crack growth by utilizing modified delamination wear theory with surface layer spalling model. Fatigue stress intensity factors (DeltaKI) loaded by contact stress and combined residual stress implied that buckling of subsurface crack with compressive residual stress opens crack-tip and consequently increase wear rate during sliding contact. As for the experimental verification of the modified delamination model, cyclic sliding contact experiment on metallic implant materials in ambient was conducted by utilizing atomic force microscope (AFM) and four-point-bending set up by which well characterized pre-stress was established on rectangular specimen. In addition, complex mechanism of corrosion on the damaged surface illustrated strong stress-dependent effects on wear rate in repassivating environment and dissolution rates in reactive environment.