Comparison of Simulator Wear Measured by Gravimetric vs Optical Surface Methods for Two Million Cycles

Understanding wear mechanisms are key for better implants
Critical to the success of the simulation
Small amount of metal wear can have catastrophic effects in the patient such as heavy metal poisoning or deterioration of the bone/implant interface leading to implant failure
Difficult to measure in heavy hard-on-hard implants (metal-on-metal or ceramic-on-ceramic)
May have only fractions of a milligram of wear on a 200 g component
At the limit of detection of even high-end balances when the component is 200 g and the change in weight is on the order of 0.000 1 grams
Here we compare the standard gravimetric wear estimate with
A non-contact 3D optical profiling method at each weighing stop
A coordinate measuring machine (CMM) at the beginning and end of the run