Tribological characterization of a hip prosthesis in Si3N4-TiN ceramic composite made with Electrical Discharge Machining (EDM)

In this work, the friction and wear behavior in hip prosthesis made of Si3N4-TiN ceramic composite were evaluated by tribological tests in order to estimate the prosthesis life. The innovation consists in the use of Electrical Discharge Machining (EDM) for the realization of the hip prosthesis. This was allowed using TiN as a dopant of the ceramic matrix which confer electrical conductivity properties to the composite, necessary in order to use the EDM. The Coefficient of Friction (CoF) and Wear Rate (WR) were evaluated through experimental tribological tests using a tribometer with Pin on Disk (PoD) configuration. The experimental results were used for the calibration of the Archard wear model adopted to simulate the wear process between pin and disk. Finally, after calibrating the wear model, numerical analysis was performed to evaluate the wear of the material and the life cycle of the hip prosthesis.