The tribological behavior between orthopedic implants and cortical bone is important but usually neglected. Poly(ether-ether-ketone) (PEEK) is a promising material for orthopedic applications. To further understand and improve the interfacial tribological properties between PEEK implant and host bone tissue, a PEEK-cortical bone tribo-pair is designed and fabricated. The frictional and wear performance of such tribo-pair is investigated under different lubricants, i.e., simulated body fluid (SBF), calf serum (CS), hyaluronic acid (HA), and mucin (MUC). The results suggest that MUC solution can be utilized as an artificial natural synovial fluid to improve the tribological properties of PEEK-based implants.
Keywords: PEEK; biotribology; cortical bones; implants; lubrications.
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