Fretting corrosion behaviour of Ti-6Al-4V reinforced with zirconia in foetal bovine serum.

Fretting corrosion is a critical challenge in the design of hip prosthesis used in total hip arthroplasty (THA) surgeries. Currently, the design of hip implants includes a tapered junction which introduces additional interfaces that connect different parts of the hip implant such as the femoral neck and head or stem and neck interface. Micro motions that occur under the influence of load, together with chemical changes in the host environment, make these interfaces susceptible to tribocorrosion processes, particularly fretting corrosion.