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OXINIUM™

Oxidized Zirconium

Damage Tolerance

OXINIUM Implant Damage Tolerance

In the real world, damage to the surface of a femoral component is always a risk.

Oxide Adhesion Tests⁵

Test #1: To investigate the damage tolerance to the OXINIUM material, a crater was made through the ceramic oxide surface with a diamond-tipped indenter. Material displaced from the crater heaved up under the ceramic oxide, providing an aggressive challenge to the oxide adhesion.

Test #1

The absence of chipping and spalling around the indentation crater indicates excellent adhesion of the ceramic oxide, despite extensive deformation of the metal substrate.

Test #2: A thin groove was milled through the ceramic oxide of flat OXINIUM disks. Then bone cement pins were rubbed across the groove for 10 million cycles.

No additional damage to the implant was noted even after 10 million cycles of this extremely aggressive protocol. This result supports the premise that even under extreme conditions catastrophic failure will not result.

References

5. G. Hunter, “Adhesion testing of oxidized zirconium”, Trans. Soc. Biomaterials, 24, 2001, p. 540.