THE EFFECT OF ASPHERICITY OF ACETABULAR BEARING SURFACE ON CONTACT MECHANICS OF UHMWPE TOTAL HIP IMPLANTS BY FINITE ELEMENT ANALYSIS

Asphericity and out-of-roundness are generally used to evaluate the manufacturing quality of ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE) cup inner surfaces, which can potentially affect initial clinical wear and contribute to osteolysis of total hip arthroplasty. This study measured the location and magnitude of asphericity and the out-of-roundness value for four UHMWPE cups in a single set, and then investigated the effects of the asphericity on the contact mechanics of UHMWPE cups. A co-ordinate measuring machine (CMM) was used for the surface measurement and finite element analysis (FEA) was adopted for contact mechanics study. The results demonstrated that the asphericity varied between cups with the maximum value as 0.088 +/- 0.004 mm. Although such a value met the ISO specification, large difference of volume appeared for the asphericity above 0.060 mm. Actual surface profile accounting for the asphericity was found to affect the value of contact pressure and contact area by around 12%. The inferior asphericity resulted in a nonsmoothly distributed contact pressure, which had a negative effect on the contact mechanics of UHMWPE cups and the edge loading was predicted to occur for the sample with a large asphericity. In conclusion, the asphericity of UHMWPE cup could affect the contact mechanics of the articular bearings and may subsequently contribute to initial wear during bedding-in phase.