Micromechanical properties of one-step and sequentially crosslinked UHMWPEs for total joint replacements

0439729 - ÚMCH 2015 RIV GB eng J - Journal Article
Šlouf, Miroslav - Vacková, Taťana - Nevoralová, Martina - Pokorný, D.
Micromechanical properties of one-step and sequentially crosslinked UHMWPEs for total joint replacements.
Polymer Testing. Roč. 41, February (2015), s. 191-197. ISSN 0142-9418. E-ISSN 1873-2348
R&D Projects: GA MZd NT12229; GA TA ČR TA01011406; GA ČR(CZ) GA14-17921S
Institutional support: RVO:61389013
Keywords : UHMWPE * joint replacement * microindentation hardness testing
Subject RIV: CD - Macromolecular Chemistry
Impact factor: 2.350, year: 2015

Microindentation hardness testing was applied to five types of highly-crosslinked ultrahigh molecular weight polyethylenes (UHMWPEs) for total joint replacements. UHMWPE's were crosslinked using the same total radiation dose (75 kGy; γ-radiation) either by the standard, single-step irradiation (one-step crosslinking) or by the newer, several-step irradiation (sequential crosslinking). Each irradiation step was followed by thermal treatment (annealing at 110 °C or remelting at 150 °C) in an inert atmosphere. We showed that: (i) the micromechanical properties were determined by the last thermal treatment step, while the number of irradiation cycles was insignificant and (ii) the values of microhardness, microcreep and microplasticity from the microindentation experiments were in excellent agreement with the changes of UHMWPE structure, characterized by IR and DSC. Statistical evaluation of the results, the agreement with theoretical predictions and the comparison with previous studies on similar systems demonstrated that microindentation was a reliable and sensitive method of UHMWPE characterization.
Permanent Link: http://hdl.handle.net/11104/0243449