Background: Ceramic materials are used in a growing proportion of hip joint prostheses due to their wear resistance and biocompatibility properties. However, ceramics have not been applied successfully in total knee joint endoprostheses to date. One reason for this is that with strict surface quality requirements, there are significant challenges with regard to machining. High-toughness bioceramics can only be machined by grinding and polishing processes. The aim of this study was to develop an automated process chain for the manufacturing of an all-ceramic knee implant.
Methods: A five-axis machining process was developed for all-ceramic implant components. These components were used in an investigation of the influence of surface conformity on wear behavior under simplified knee joint motion.
Results: The implant components showed considerably reduced wear compared to conventional material combinations. Contact area resulting from a variety of component surface shapes, with a variety of levels of surface conformity, greatly influenced wear rate.
Conclusions: It is possible to realize an all-ceramic knee endoprosthesis device, with a precise and affordable manufacturing process. The shape accuracy of the component surfaces, as specified by the design and achieved during the manufacturing process, has a substantial influence on the wear behavior of the prosthesis. This result, if corroborated by results with a greater sample size, is likely to influence the design parameters of such devices.