Articular cartilage is a material with the appearance of simplicity and uniformity, but the chemical and biological structure of this material is very complex and not yet known in every detail. Our knowledge of cartilage wear behavior is limited and needs to be enlarged. Knowledge in this area could be important for the prevention and treatment of degenerative joint diseases.
Within the framework of this thesis. a literature search focused on the key words joint lubrication and cartilage wear was conducted. The result of this search was that almost all studies and experiments which have been carried out to investigate tribilogical processes in synovial joints focused on friction behavior. Only a few tests dealing with cartilage wear were conducted. Most of the cartilage wear studies were carried out under exaggerated conditions which might change the wear mechanisms. Two studies were undertaken under conditions close to normal conditions occurring in natural joints; one in entire joints with a pendulum device, the other one with a cartilage-on-cartilage test system. The test devices used in these tests offered no or limited opportunities for the variation of the test parameters. Test parameters are, for example, the type of motion, applied load, velocity, variation of the velocity during each cycle, type of specimen, and test fluid composition.
In consideration of the findings of the literature search, it was decided to design a new test device providing the capability of measuring friction, wear, and displacement due to wear and/or cartilage deformation. Furthermore, the new test device for cartilage wear studies, allows the variation of the above mentioned test parameters. / Master of Science
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:VTETD/oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/45471 |
| Date | 07 November 2008 |
| Creators | Burkhardt, Bettina M. |
| Contributors | Mechanical Engineering, Furey, Michael J., Reinholtz, Charles F., Kornegay, Ervin T. |
| Publisher | Virginia Tech |
| Source Sets | Virginia Tech Theses and Dissertation |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis, Text |
| Format | xv, 166 leaves, BTD, application/pdf, application/pdf |
| Rights | In Copyright, http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ |
| Relation | OCLC# 19619531, LD5655.V855_1988.B872.pdf |
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