Roughness Evolution of Metallic Implant Surfaces Under Contact Loading and Nanoscale Chemical Etching: Influence of Surface Roughness and Contact Loading

Metallic materials are chosen for orthopedic implants because of their high load-bearing capacity, low cost and low wear rates. However, repeated contact loading at taper-locked or clamped of metallic implant interfaces results in formation of soluble and particulate debris due to the simultaneous action of mechanical loading and electrochemical reactions in the corrosive physiological environment [1–3]. Previous work on understanding metallic implant surface damage due to mechanical load assisted dissolution has run the gamut from examination of retrieved implants [4, 5, 6 ] to in-vitro implant scale experiments (see for instance [7] and references in review articles [2, 5]). Results of these studies indicate that there is a synergistic interaction of mechanical loading and electrochemical oxidation i.e. material degradation is accelerated by the combined effects of contact loading and corrosion.