Abstract
Alumina ceramics have been used in total hip replacements for over 30 years with much success, although some in-vivo failures of early generation alumina ceramic heads were reported. This resulted in the introduction of zirconia (yttriastabilised tetragonal zirconia, Y-TZP) as a ceramic femoral head, with its improved strength and fracture toughness. Zirconia, however, is known to undergo hydrothermal degradation. This hydrothermal degradation is due to the phase transformation from the metastable tetragonal phase into the monoclinic phase. This transformation starts from the surface and progresses into the bulk with a volume increase of approximately 3–4 %. This increase in monoclinic phase content may result in surface roughening of the ceramic head and is linked to a reduction in strength and increased UHMWPE wear [1,5].
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Allain J, Le Mouel S, Goutallier D, Voisin MC (1999) Poor eight-year survival of cemented zirconia-polyethylene total hip replacements. The Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery (British Edition) vol 81-B, no 5, pp. 835–842.
Blaise L, Villermaux F, Cales B (2001) Ageing of Zirconia: Everything You Always Wanted to Know. Key Engineering Materials vol 192–195, pp. 553–556.
Burger W, Richter HG (2001) High strength and toughness alumina matrix composites by transformation toughening and ‘in situ’ platelet reinforcement (ZPTA)–The new generation of bioceramics. Key Engineering Materials vol 192–195, pp.545–548.
Clarke IC, Green DD, Pezzotti G, Donaldson D (2005) 20 Years Experience of Zirconia Total Hip Replacements. In: D’Antonio JA, Dietrich M (eds) Ceramics in Orthopaedics 10th Biolox Symposium Proceedings, pp. 67–78.
Hernigou P, Bahrami P (2003) Zirconia and alumina ceramics in comparison with stainless-steel heads, polyethylene wear after a minimum ten-year follow-up. The Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery (British Edition) vol 85-B, pp. 504–509.
Kuntz M, Schneider N, Heros R (2005) Controlled Zirconia Phase Transformation in Biolox® delta — a Feature of Safety. In: D’Antonio JA, Dietrich M (eds) Ceramics in Orthopaedics 10th Biolox Symposium Proceedings, pp. 79–83.
Merkert P (2003) Next Generation Ceramic Bearings. In: Zippel H, Dietrich M (eds) Bioceramics in Joint Arthroplasty 8th BIOLOX Symposium Proceedings, pp. 123–125.
Pfaff H-G, Willmann G (1998) Stability of Y-TZP Zirconia. In: Puhl W (ed) Bioceramics in Orthopaedics — New Applications Proceedings of the 3rd International Symposium on Ceramic Wear Couple, pp. 29–31.
Rack R, Pfaff H-G (2000) A New Ceramic for Orthopaedics. In: Willmann G, Zweymuller KA (eds) Bioceramics in Hip Joint Replacement Proceedings 5th International CeramTec Symposium, pp. 141–145.
Rack R, Pfaff H-G (2001) Long-term Performance of the Alumina Matrix Composite Biolox® Delta. In: Toni A, Willmann G (eds) Bioceramics in Joint Arthroplasty Proceedings 6th International BIOLOX Symposium, pp. 103–108.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2007 Steinkopff Verlag
About this paper
Cite this paper
Corfield, V., Khan, I., Scott, R. (2007). Hydrothermal Stability of Ceramic Femoral Heads. In: Chang, JD., Billau, K. (eds) Bioceramics and Alternative Bearings in Joint Arthroplasty. Ceramics in Orthopaedics. Steinkopff. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-7985-1783-7_7
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-7985-1783-7_7
Publisher Name: Steinkopff
Print ISBN: 978-3-7985-1782-0
Online ISBN: 978-3-7985-1783-7
eBook Packages: MedicineMedicine (R0)