Materials Chemistry and Physics 239 (2020) 121918

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Materials Chemistry and Physics

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/matchemphys

Friction and wear performance evaluation of UHMWPE using Taguchi

based grey approach: A study on the influence of load and
bio-serum lubrication
Omar Hussain, Sheikh Shahid Saleem *, Babar Ahmad
Mechanical Engineering, N.I.T, Srinagar, 190006, India

H I G H L I G H T S

� The tribological performance of UHMWPE was studied under bio serum lubrications.
� Load is the most important factor that affects friction coefficient and wear rate.
� Ti6Al4V alloy shows better tribological performance than 316 L SS against UHWMPE.
� Human serum has better lubricating performance than fetal bovine and rabbit serum.
� The formation of serum films was observed on the worn surfaces of UHWMPE.

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Keywords: The friction and wear behavior of biomedical implant materials is a subject of interest to tribologists. It stems
Wear from the fact that friction & wear are the key factors affecting the life of artificial replacement joints. This study
Friction coefficient investigates the tribological performance of UHMWPE against Biomedical grade 316 L stainless steel and
Taguchi
TiAl6V4under different bio serum lubrications. The selected materials are commonly used for total joint
Bio-serums
Biomedical implants
replacement and form a tribo pair in contact. The friction and wear tests were performed on a pin on disc tribo-
meter at normal body temperature of 37 � C. The design of experiment approach based on Taguchi methodology
was used for experimentation planning and Taguchi’s L18 orthogonal array was used based on the levels of the
control factors viz., counter-face material, bio lubrication and load. Further, Taguchi and grey based approaches
were used for optimization of the friction and wear processes with respect to the control factors. Furthermore,
ANOVA technique was used to study the effect of selected process parameters on the tribological performance of
UHMWPE. It is perceived that the load is the most important parameter that affects both average friction co­
efficient and specific wear rate. Grey relational analysis revealed that using Ti6Al4V Counterface material with
human serum and 52 N normal load gives the optimum tribological performance for UHWMPE. The worn sur­
faces of UHWMPE were examined using scanning electron microscopy to reveal the wear mechanisms.

1. Introduction
The hip and knee joint are the vital part of the human body. These are
the most complex synovial joints in human body which are vulnerable to
acute injuries and osteoarthritis. These joints work under boundary/
mixed lubrication during sleep and rest which causes starved lubrication
by the natural lubricant synovial fluid and with the passage of time leads
to arthritis resulting from the wear of joints due to starved lubrication.
Osteoarthritis is a joint disease which is related to the cartilage
degeneration. The degeneration of the cartilage is due to wear and also
due to the degradation of the synovial fluid of these joints. This results in
the reduction of the mechanical performance of the joints and thus af­
fects the functioning of the joints. Thus these degenerated or damaged
cartilages are removed and replaced by implants which is termed as total
joint replacement (TJR) [1–3]. TJR is a treatment of joint disease which
is well-recognized in the field of orthopedics. TJR is a surgical technique
in which the largest synovial joints such as the hip or knee joint, which
are affected by the osteoarthritic diseases are replaced with an artificial

* Corresponding author.
E-mail address: shahid@nitsri.net (S.S. Saleem).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matchemphys.2019.121918
Received 17 April 2019; Received in revised form 26 July 2019; Accepted 29 July 2019
Available online 30 July 2019
0254-0584/© 2019 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
O. Hussain et al.
implant (prosthesis). From clinical researches it has been understood
that the demand for TJR is going to increase within 15–25 years [4–7].
Currently there is a rise in TJR for all age group patients. TJR provides a
solution for patients to alleviate pain and re facilitate the working of the
effected joint [8,9].
The use of TJR in younger and middle age groups have made it
mandatory to extend the life span of the implants [10–12]. From many
years researches are been carried out in the field of bio tribology in order
to attain the useful tribological materials for the use of joint re­
placements [13,14]. Thus the manufacture of orthopedic implants is of
great significance to treat different bone and joint deficiencies. Bio­
materials have attracted more focus as load bearing material for
bone-implants due to their acceptable biocompatibility and
mechanical-properties [15–19]. Biomedical alloys behold a special
property for corrosion resistance by formation of a protective oxide film
which provide low corrosion rates. Bio materials used in orthopedic
industry have various applications and these applications are increasing
their importance in the field of orthopedic [20,21]. UHMWPE is the
material of choice for cartilage replacement in TJR. Due to its excep­
tional properties, it has been used as one of the materials for TJR for over
four decades. In the year 1962 polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) was
replaced by UHMWPE. The Exceptional properties which include
chemical stability, high impact strength, low coefficient friction and
bio-compatibility has made UHMWPE as the material of choice for the
replacement of damaged cartilages. At present UHMWPE is a gold
standard joint bearing material used in TJR [22–39]. Due to many
excellent properties of UHMWPE, it has been used for total hip and knee
replacement from last many years. Many material pairs have been used
for TJR. One of the pair successfully used is UHMWPE against metallic
substrate [40–45]. Stainless steel 316 L and TiAl6V4 are generally used
metallic implant materials due to their bio-compatibility and excep­
tional properties which include high specific moduli, thermal stability,
strength and importantly good wear resistance. Several research studies
have been conducted on the wear resistance of 316 L and TiAl6V4 in the
recent years for biomedical applications [46–48]. Some studies have
also been carried on stainless steel matrix composites like TiB2/316 L
stainless steel composite and TiC/316 L stainless steel composites for
biomedical implant application. It is reflected from these studies that the
processing parameters during formation can be optimized to obtain a
desirable microstructure and good performance [40,41,49,50].
Although the tribological characteristics of orthopedic biomedical
implant materials have been investigated, yet the optimization of
implant materials of different hardness with different bio-lubrications
and loading conditions has not been reported. Having said that, this
study investigates the friction coefficient and wear behavior of Stainless
steel 316 L and TiAl6V4 orthopedic implant materials against UHMWPE
material under variable conditions of load and different bio-lubrications
viz., human serum, bovine serum and rabbit serum. The selected
metallic materials are widely used in orthopedic implants and form a
tribo-pair with UHMWPE in the joint. Using Taguchi approach and grey
relational analysis, optimization of friction coefficient and wear has
been carried out; and statistical methods were implemented to study the
contributions of selected control factors on the friction and wear prop­
erties. The results will help in the design of artificial replacement joints
for different species as serums from different species have been chosen
as lubricating mediums.
2. Experimental details
2.1. Materials
The materials were procured from Nano-Shell USA which were used
in this work. The biomedical grade UHMWPE was procured in the form
of cylindrical rod of 6 mm dia and pin samples of height 8 mm were cut
from it and further the pins were tapered to 3 mm diameter. The
biomedical grade 316 L SS and TiAl6V4 were procured in the form of a
2
Materials Chemistry and Physics 239 (2020) 121918
cylindrical rods of 24 mm diameter and disc samples of 24 mm diameter
and 10 mm height were cut from the rods. The chemical composition of
316 L SS and TiAl6V4 is displayed in Table 1. The microstructure of the
materials is given in Fig. 1.
Rabbit serum and fetal bovine serum were obtained from SKUAST,
Shuhama (Institute of Veterinary Sciences and Animal Husbandry) J&K,
India. Human serum was obtained from Government medical college
Srinagar, J&K, India. These serums were used as lubricants for tribo­
logical testing.
2.2. Hardness tests
Hardness measurements were carried out on UHMWPE samples on
shore D scale using ASTM D-2240. Moreover, 316 L Stainless steel and
TiAl6V4 were carried out using Vickers micro hardness tester according
to ASTM E384-17. Each hardness test was done 5 times and the mean of
the obtained hardness was taken. The average hardness values are
shown in Table 2.
2.3. Friction and wear tests
A continuous linear reciprocating motion pin on disc (POD) tribo-
meter (shown in Fig. 2) was used to perform the friction and wear
tests in biological lubricants at body temperature (37�1 � C). The normal
load was taken as 39 N, 46 N and 52 N. The duration of the test was
60 min and the frequency was kept constant at 5 Hz, respectively. The
reciprocating stroke of 4 mm was maintained. The Schematics of the test
rig and the tribo-pair are shown in Figs. 3 and 4 respectively. The friction
co-efficient data was attained by data acquisition system (DAQ) with the
help of the computer connected to the POD tribo-meter. Each test was re-
peated thrice and the aver-age value is reported. The morphological
examinations of the worn surfaces were conducted using Scanning
Electron Microscopy (SEM).
The Spec-ific Wear rate was cal-culated using the following relation
[51]:
Wv
K¼ (1)
Sd � L
where.
K ¼ Specific wear rate (mm3/Nm)
Wv ¼ volume of wear (mm3)
L ¼ Load (N)
Sd ¼ Slid-ing Distance (m)
2.4. Taguchi based experimental design
Taguchi is an approach for design of experiments for controlled
attainment of data, optimizing the process with the chosen set of process
variables. It is a simple and systematic method to optimize design for
cost, quality and performance [52,54]. Taguchi approach has been used
by many industrial and researchers as an optimization technique
[55–57]. Taguchi approach employs a loss function to evaluate the
deviance in the experimentally attained values and the desired values.
This function is transformed to a signal over noise (S/N) ratio. The
lower-the-better, the nominal-the-better and the higher-the-better are
the three quality characteristics available for the S/N ratio [58]. This
work is intended to minimalize friction and wear of biomedical implant
materials. Thus in this work, the lower the better (LB) quality charac­
teristic approach is used for the analysis of wear and friction co-efficient
(FC) of the biomedical implant materials. The lower-the-better qua-lity
charact-eristic is given by Ref. [58]:
" #
1X n
S=N ¼ 10 log y2
(2)
n i¼1 i
O. Hussain et al. Materials Chemistry and Physics 239 (2020) 121918

Table 1
Chemical composition of 316 L stainless steel and TiAl6V4 alloy in wt. %.
Material Cr Mo Ni Si Mn C S P Fe N O H Al V Ti

316 L SS 17 2.3 12 0.03 2 0.03 0.03 0.04 Bal – – – – – –

TiAl6V4 – – – – – 0.08 – – 0.03 0.05 0.20 0.015 5.50 3.50 Bal

Fig. 1. Microstructure of materials: (a) UHMWPE (b) 316 L stainless steel and (c) TiAl6V4.

Table 2
Hardness of materials.
Material Hardness

Replications Mean Standard Deviation

I II III IV V
UHMWPE 68 (Shore D) 67 68 68 69 68 68 0.632
316 L Stainless steel 264.3 (HV) 263.9 264.5 264.6 264 264.5 264.3 0.289
TiAl6V4 329 (HV) 329.2 329.4 328.5 329.1 328.8 329 0.316

where, n is the number of experiments and yi represents the experi­

mental data of the ith experimental run.
L18(21 � 32)orthogonal array was used in this study to design ex­
periments based upon the control factors and their selected levels; pre­
sented in Table 3.

2.5. Grey relational analysis (GRA)

GRA is an appropriate approach for solving multi objective problems

Fig. 2. Reciprocating pin-on-disc tribometer.
with complex inter-relationships among multiple factors and variables
[59]. A multiple response problem is reduced to a single objective
problem by using GRA. Multiple objective problems are optimized using
GRA combined with Taguchi method [60]. Grey relational generation
(GRG) is the first step in GRA in which data from the multiple response
experiment is norma-lized from 0 to 1. Considering, quality character­
istic larger-the-better, equation (3) gives the GRG as follows [61]:

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O. Hussain et al. Materials Chemistry and Physics 239 (2020) 121918

Fig. 3. Sche-matic illustration of pin on disc tribo-meter.

Δoi ðkÞ of kthresponse variable and Δmax is the maximum value of Δoi ðkÞ of
the kthresponse variable. ζ is the discerning coefficient for the response
variables and its value is taken between 0 and 1.
The GR grade γi can be obtained after attainingfor ‘n’ number of
performance characteristics, the GR coefficients ξi ðkÞ of i number of
investigational values by equation 6 as follows [61]:

1X n
γi ¼ ξ ðkÞ (5)
n k¼1 i

Higher value of GR grade so acquired for experimental factor groupings

would imply higher performance.

3. Results and discussion

The friction coefficient and wear tests were done according to

Taguchi’s L18 (21 � 32) array and the results are in Table 4. The test run
Fig. 4. Schematics of the tribo-pair.
result values of Average friction co-efficient and specific wear rate and
their corresponding S/N ratios based upon lower the better quality
Table 3
characteristic are given in Table 4. The analysis was carried out in
Control factors and levels. Minitab 17.
Control factors Units Level
3.1. S/N ratio analysis
1 2 3

Material – 316 L S.S TiAl6V4 – The response table for average FC and spe-cific wear rate is presented
Test environment Human Rabbit Fetal
–
in Table 5. The impact of control param-eters on average S/N ratio for
(Lubricants) serum serum bovine
Load N 39 46 52 average FC and wear rate are shown in Fig. 5 and Fig. 6. To obtain better
performance, the setting for optimum control factors can be attained by
taking the highest values of S/N ratios. In Table 5 values in bold
yi ðkÞ minyi ðkÞ represent the largest values of S/N ratios. From Fig. 5 and Table 5 it is
Xi ðkÞ ¼ (3)
maxyi ðkÞ minyi ðkÞ observed that the grouping of factors; Counterface material: Ti6Al4V
(level 2), Bio Lubrication: Rabbit serum (level 3) and Load: 52 N (level 3)
where normalized grey relational group value is given by Xi (k), the gives minimum ave-rage friction coefficient, and from Fig. 6 and
investigational result value of the kth performance specific for the Table 5, it can be perceived that the grouping of factors; Counterface
ithexperiment is given by yi (k), max yi (k) represents the max value of yi Material: Ti6Al4V (level 2), Bio-lubrication: Human serum (level 1) and
(k) for the kth performance characteristic and min yi (k) is the min value Load: 52 N (level 3) gives minimum wear rate. More-over, from Table 5
of yi (k). it is perceived that load is the most important parameter that affects the
After grouping Grey relation (GR), for each characteristic perfor­ friction co-efficient followed by Counterface material and Bio-
mance GR co-efficient is attained in the next step. The GR co-efficient is lubrication. Further, from Table 5 it can also be perceived that load is
acquiredfrom equation (4) [61]: the most important parameter that aff-ects the wear rate followed by
Δmin þ ζΔmax Bio-lubrication and Counterface material.
ξi ðkÞ ¼ (4)
Δoi ðkÞ þ ζΔmax
3.2. Analysis of variance (ANOVA)
where,ξi ðkÞ is the obtained value of GRco-efficient for ithexperiment of
the kthresponse variable, Δoi ¼ kXo ðkÞ Xi ðkÞk is the absolute difference ANOVA is the statistical method used to determine the outcome of
of reference sequence Xo ðkÞ and Xi (k), Δmin is the minimum value of analysis to state the impact ratio and ranking system of every parameter.
Although, ANOVA has been used to find the important factors which

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O. Hussain et al. Materials Chemistry and Physics 239 (2020) 121918

Table 4
Experimental results and S/N ratios.
Exp. No. Counterface Material Bio Lubrication Load (N) Average FC S/N ratio (FC) Wear rate (10 6mm3/Nm) S/N ratio (Wear rate)

1 316 L S.S Human serum 39 0.076 22.3837 6.4 16.1236

2 316 L S.S Human serum 46 0.062 24.1522 3.8 11.5957
3 316 L S.S Human serum 52 0.055 25.1927 2.4 7.6042
4 316 L S.S Fetal bovine 39 0.116 18.7108 8.3 18.3816
5 316 L S.S Fetal bovine 46 0.069 23.2230 7.1 17.0252
6 316 L S.S Fetal bovine 52 0.054 25.3521 5.9 15.4170
7 316 L S.S Rabbit serum 39 0.098 20.1755 5.1 14.1514
8 316 L S.S Rabbit serum 46 0.060 24.4370 3.6 11.1261
9 316 L S.S Rabbit serum 52 0.049 26.1961 2.4 7.6042
10 TiAl6V4 Human serum 39 0.076 22.3837 7.6 17.6163
11 TiAl6V4 Human serum 46 0.060 24.4370 3.2 10.1030
12 TiAl6V4 Human serum 52 0.050 26.0206 1.4 2.9226
13 TiAl6V4 Fetal bovine 39 0.065 23.7417 4.8 13.6248
14 TiAl6V4 Fetal bovine 46 0.058 24.7314 3.9 11.8213
15 TiAl6V4 Fetal bovine 52 0.052 25.6799 2.7 8.6273
16 TiAl6V4 Rabbit serum 39 0.069 23.2230 5.2 14.3201
17 TiAl6V4 Rabbit serum 46 0.057 24.8825 4.5 13.0643
18 TiAl6V4 Rabbit serum 52 0.043 27.3306 2.9 9.2480

executed at 95% confidence level and 5% significance level. The results

Table 5
of ANOVA for aver-age friction co-efficient and we-ar rate are pre-sented
Response table for S/N ratios.
in Tables 6 and 7. From Table 6 it is evident that load is the most sig­
Average friction coefficient nificant contributing parameter to average friction coefficient. The
Level Counterface Material Bio-lubrication Load percentage contribution of load towards friction coefficient is (66.86%)
1 23.31 24.09 21.77
trailed by Counterface material (10.11%). The interactions of Counter­
2 24.71 23.57 24.31 face Material*Load and Counterface Material*Bio-lubrication
3 24.37 25.96 contribute to (2.14%) and (0.90%) for friction coefficient respectively.
Delta 1.40 0.80 4.19 Bio-lubrication and the interaction of bio-lubrication*Load are incon­
Rank 2 3 1
siderable for friction coefficient. From Table 7 it is perceived that load is
Specific wear rate also the most important contributing parameter to specific wear rate.
1 13.225 ¡10.994 15.703 The percentage contribution of load towards wear rate is (49.13%)
2 ¡11.261 14.150 12.456 trailed by interaction of Counterface Material*Bio-lubrication (18.10%),
3 11.586 ¡8.571 Bio-lubrication (11.32%), interaction of Bio-lubrication*Load (7.11%)
Delta 1.965 3.155 7.132
and Counterface material (6.09%). The inter-action of Counterface
Rank 3 2 1
Material*Loadis in-significant for wear rate.

influence the parameters on response, the control factor and the prom­ 3.3. Grey relational analysis (GRA)
inent link between Material, Loading conditions and testing environ­
ment (factors that affect the values of aver-age friction coefficient and Friction and wear are the proper-ties which take place in the system
we-ar rate) was recognized using ANOVA. ANOVA analysis was concurrently. Hence, it is essential to optimize the mentioned properties

Fig. 5. Effect of process parameters on S/N ratio of average friction coefficient.

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O. Hussain et al. Materials Chemistry and Physics 239 (2020) 121918

Fig. 6. Effect of process parameters on S/N ratio of specific wear rate.

Table 6
Analysis of variance for S/N ratio of friction coefficient.
Source DF Adj SS Adj MS F-value P-value %age contribution

Counterface Material 1 8.830 8.8304 8.36 0.045 10.11

Bio-lubrication 2 1.983 0.9917 0.94 0.463 pooled
Load (N) 2 53.516 26.7580 25.33 0.005 66.86
Counterface Material*Bio-lubrication 2 2.805 1.4023 1.33 0.361 0.90
Counterface Material*Load (N) 2 3.756 1.8780 1.78 0.280 2.14
Bio-lubrication*Load (N) 4 1.772 0.4431 0.42 0.790 pooled
Error 4 4.225 1.0563 19.99
Total 17 76.888 100

Table 7
Analysis of variance for S/N ratio of specific wear rate.
Source DF Adj SS Adj MS F-value P-value %age contribution

Counterface Material 1 4.3022 4.3022 12.51 0.024 6.09

Bio-lubrication 2 8.0344 4.0172 11.68 0.021 11.32
Load (N) 2 32.5744 16.2872 47.36 0.002 49.13
Counterface Material*Bio-lubrication 2 12.4344 6.2172 18.08 0.010 18.10
Counterface Material*Load (N) 2 0.1878 0.0939 0.27 0.774 pooled
Bio-lubrication*Load (N) 4 5.9889 1.4972 4.35 0.092 7.11
Error 4 1.3756 0.3439 8.25
Total 17 64.8978 100

together. For this, GRA was used because GRA is adept of optimizing a
multi-objective problem by reducing it to a single-objective problem. In
the present study, the method described in section 2.5 for GRA was used
to acquire the GR grade values which is given in Table 8. The reference
sequence, Xo ðkÞ was taken as 1; and the distinguishing co-efficient, ζ was
taken as 0.5 to give same weightage to friction coefficient and wear rate.
The highest grey relational grade (GRG) value is attained for 12th
experimental run which is bold in Table 8. The factor setting with
highest GRG is the optimal setting [53]. Therefore it is evident from
Table 8 that the grouping of parameters; Counterface Material: TiAl6V4,
Bio-lubrication: Human serum and Load: 52 N is the optimal factor
setting for friction-coefficient and wear rate of UHMWPE together.
3.4. Analysis of variance of GRG
Table 9 gives the ANOVA results for the GRG of average friction-
coefficient and we-ar rate. It can be perceived from Table 9 that Load
is the most important factor that affects GRG with a contribution per­
centage of (67.98%) trailed by Counterface Material (9.12%) and Bio-
lubrication (3.74%). The contribution of interaction of Counterface
Material*Load on the GRG is 0.35%. The interactions of Counterface
Material*Bio-lubrication and Bio-lubrication*Load are inconsiderable
for the GRD and were pooled.
3.5. Analysis of worn surfaces
The worn-surfaces of UHMWPE were investigated using SEM. Fig. 7
shows the SEM im-ages of the UHMWPE after testing in different serums
at 52 N load. The SEM images of the worn surfaces of UHMWPE after
test-ing against 316 L SS and Ti6Al4V in Human serum are shown in
Fig. 7 (a) and Fig. 7 (d) respectively. It is clear from these figures that
upon sliding, the human serum has adhered to the surface of UHMWPE,

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O. Hussain et al. Materials Chemistry and Physics 239 (2020) 121918

Table 8
Grey Relational Grade for Average COF and Wear rate.
Exp. Counterface Bio Load S/N Ratio (Friction S/N Ratio (Wear rate Grey relational Grey relational Grey relational
No. Material Lubrication (N) Coefficient) (10 6mm3/Nm)) generation coefficient grade

S/N S/N WR S/N S/N WR

FC FC

1 316 L S.S Human 39 22.3837 16.1236 0.42610 0.14606 0.46559 0.36929 0.417443
serum
2 316 L S.S Human 46 24.1522 11.5957 0.63127 0.43896 0.57555 0.47124 0.523394
serum
3 316 L S.S Human 52 25.1927 2.9226 0.75198 0.61054 0.66843 0.56214 0.615285
serum
4 316 L S.S Fetal bovine 39 18.7108 18.3816 0.00000 0.00000 0.33333 0.33333 0.333333
5 316 L S.S Fetal bovine 46 23.2230 17.0252 0.52347 0.08774 0.51202 0.35404 0.433030
6 316 L S.S Fetal bovine 52 25.3521 15.4170 0.77047 0.19177 0.68537 0.38220 0.533785
7 316 L S.S Rabbit serum 39 20.1755 14.1514 0.16992 0.27364 0.37592 0.40771 0.391814
8 316 L S.S Rabbit serum 46 24.4370 11.1261 0.66431 0.46934 0.59831 0.48513 0.541716
9 316 L S.S Rabbit serum 52 26.1961 7.6042 0.86838 0.69716 0.79162 0.62279 0.707205
10 TiAl6V4 Human 39 22.3837 17.6163 0.42610 0.04951 0.46559 0.34471 0.405151
serum
11 TiAl6V4 Human 46 24.4370 10.1030 0.66431 0.53552 0.59831 0.51841 0.558360
serum
12 TiAl6V4 Human 52 26.0206 ¡8.9432 0.84802 1.00000 0.76690 1.00000 0.883450
serum
13 TiAl6V4 Fetal bovine 39 23.7417 13.6248 0.58364 0.30770 0.54564 0.41936 0.482499
14 TiAl6V4 Fetal bovine 46 24.7314 11.8213 0.69846 0.42437 0.62380 0.46484 0.544322
15 TiAl6V4 Fetal bovine 52 25.6799 8.6273 0.80850 0.63098 0.72306 0.57536 0.649212
16 TiAl6V4 Rabbit serum 39 23.2230 14.3201 0.52347 0.26273 0.51202 0.40411 0.458066
17 TiAl6V4 Rabbit serum 46 24.8825 13.0643 0.71599 0.34396 0.63775 0.43251 0.535130
18 TiAl6V4 Rabbit serum 52 27.3306 9.2480 1.00000 0.59083 1.00000 0.54995 0.774975

Table 9
ANOVA ofgrey relational grade.
Source DF Adj SS Adj MS F-value P-value %age contribution

Counterface Material 1 0.035038 0.035038 8.91 0.041 9.12

Bio-lubrication 2 0.020529 0.010265 2.61 0.188 3.74
Load (N) 2 0.237989 0.118995 30.24 0.004 67.98
Counterface Material*Bio-lubrication 2 0.005314 0.002657 0.68 0.559 pooled
Counterface Material*Load (N) 2 0.009044 0.004522 1.15 0.403 0.35
Bio-lubrication*Load (N) 4 0.014845 0.003711 0.94 0.522 pooled
Error 4 0.015739 0.003935 18.81
Total 17 0.338499 100

however adherence of the serum is more dense and homogeneously
distributed over the surface in case of UHMWPE sliding against Ti6Al4V
than 316 L SS. Also, from the friction and wear results shown in Table 4,
it is observed that UHMWPE sliding against Ti6Al4V showed better
friction and wear performance in human serum than UHMWPE sliding
against 316 L SS. Therefore, the worn surface analysis of UHMWPE is in
conformity with the friction and wear results and it is practicable to say
that more adherence of the human serum or formation of a dense and
homogeneous serum film on Ti6Al4V results in better friction and wear
performance of UHMWPE against Ti6Al4V. Further, in Fig. 7 (b) and
Fig. 7 (e) respectively, the SEM images of the worn-surfaces of UHMWPE
after testing against 316 L SS and Ti6Al4V in Fetal bovine serum are
shown. It is observed from Fig. 7 (b) that abrasion is the dominant wear
mechanism in case of UHMWPE sliding against 316 L SS in bovine serum
at 52 N load. From Table 4 it can be observed that highest wear rate is
observed for UHMWPE under the said conditions. However, in case of
UHMWPE sliding against Ti6Al4V in bovine serum, film of serum has
formed and adhered to the surface of UHMWPE which results in lower
wear-rate of UHMWPE against Ti6Al4V in fetal bovine serum. Moreover,
the SEM images of the worn surfaces of UHMWPE after testing against
316 L SS and Ti6Al4V in Rabbit serum at 52 N load are shown in Fig. 7
(c) and Fig. 7 (f). It is observed from Fig. 7 (c) that rabbit serum has
adhered to the surface of UHMWPE sliding against 316 L SS. However,
the serum adherence is not dense and continuous, compared to sliding of
UHMWPE in human and bovine serums. Also, from Fig. 7 (f) it is
observed that delamination (flake formation) is the dominant mode of
wear with minor abrasion in case of UHMWPE sliding against Ti6Al4V in
Rabbit serum. Further, weak adherence of rabbit serum is observed on
the surface of UHMWPE.
4. Conclusions
a) From the analysis of signal to noise ratio it was revealed that,
grouping of parameters; Counterface material: Ti6Al4V (level 2), Bio
Lubrication: Rabbit serum (level 3) and Load: 52 N (level 3) resulted
in minimum friction coefficient, and the combination of parameters;
Counterface Material: Ti6Al4V (level 2), Bio-lubrication: Human
serum (level 1) and Load: 52 N (level 3) resulted in minimum wear
rate. Further it was noticed that load is the most important parameter
that aff-ects the friction coefficient and we-ar rate.
b) The results of ANOVA for aver-age friction co-efficient and we-ar-
rate indicated that load is the most important contributing parameter
to average friction coefficient with a contribution percentage of
66.86% followed by Counterface material (10.11%). However, bio-
lubrication was found to be insignificant for friction coefficient and
was pooled. Moreover, the ANOVA results of we-ar rate revealed that
load is also the most important contributing parameter with a
contribution percentage of 49.13% followed by interaction of
Counterface Material*Bio-lubrication (18.10%), Bio-lubrication

7
O. Hussain et al.
Fig. 7. SEM morphology of the worn surfaces of UHMWPE at 52 N load under different Bio-lubrications: (a) against 316 L SS under Human serum (b) against 316 L
SS under Fetal Bovine (c) against 316 L SS under Rabbit serum (d) against Ti6Al4V under Human serum (e) against Ti6Al4V under Fetal Bovine (f) against Ti6Al4V
under Rabbit serum.
(11.32%), interaction of Bio-lubrication*Load (7.11%) and Coun­
terface material (6.09%).
c) The results of GRA revealed that the combination of parameters;
Counterface Material: TiAl6V4, Bio-lubrication: Human serum and
Load: 52 N is the optimal factor setting for friction co-efficient and
wear rate of UHMWPE optim-ized toge-ther.
d) The ANOVA results for the GRG of aver-age friction-coefficient and
wear rate revealed that Load is the most important factor which af­
fects the GRG with a percentage contri-bution of (67.98%) followed
by Counterface Material (9.12%) and Bio-lubrication (3.74%).
e) Analyis of worn surfaces revealed the formation of serum films on the
surfaces of UHMWPE. Moreover, a dense and continuous film of
human serum is observed with UHMWPE sliding against Ti6Al4V
which resulted in increased wear resistance of UHMWPE.
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