Abstract
The medical profession has a need for improved orthopedic devices and biomaterials. The replacement of knee and hip joints with metallic prosthetic devices has provided mobility to many elderly patients suffering from bone diseases. Unfortunately, metal prostheses, anchored with methyl methacrylate cement, have a useful life of 7 to 10 years. Bond failure and wear necessitates an entire replacement of the prosthesis. Bone resorption due to the presence of the implant limits the number of implant operations to two per patient. As a consequence joint replacement is restricted to patients over age 55. A definite need exists for a new material system for extending the expected life of these prosthetic devices for younger patients. The long term objective of this research is to greatly extend the service life of prosthetic devices, specifically artificial joints. A materials system approach is being employed to accomplish this objective. The two specific materials technologies being integrated in this proposed study are carbon/carbon composites and diamond-like carbon (DLC) coatings.
