Feasibility study of micro-groove cross hatched surface texturing on Ti6Al4V for improved biotribological performance in metal-on-polymer hip implant

This study investigates the feasibility of micro-groove cross hatched textures on Ti6Al4V articulating with Ultra High Molecular Weight Polyethylene (UHMWPE) for a Metal-on-Polymer (MoP) hip implant to improve biotribological performance. Keeping 10% texture area density with 10 µm groove depth, micro-grooves ranging from 50 µm to 250 µm in width are fabricated by Laser Surface Texturing (LST) technique over polished Ti6Al4V samples. Tribological performance of UHMWPE pins against Ti6Al4V plate is tested for the different loading conditions under biological environment using linear reciprocating tribometer. Worn out pin samples are examined for their surface interactions, wear mechanism, and morphology using Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM). The result shows that the selection of micro-groove texture width is critical for obtaining the maximum tribological benefits. Texture width equal or more than the Hertzian contact is reducing friction and wear up to 14% and 57%, respectively, at the tribo-pair and similarly decrease in pitch also enhances tribological performance.