Joint wear simulation 41
Corrosive surface wear – caused by the degradation of the material •
properties due to the local chemical environment, rather than purely
mechanical effects. Corrosive wear can however be exacerbated by
the mechanical environment (e.g., accelerated fatigue wear or fretting)
(Rimnac et al ., 1994).
Fretting wear – fretting wear is associated with repeated cyclic move-•
ments (often involving only minute amounts of motion) between two
mating surfaces, when ‘slip’ occurs at the interface. This form of wear can
be a particular concern for modular implants.
All of these wear processes may occur in vivo , however, some of them
are very dif cult to simulate; for example, very few researchers have
attempted to ...