Mechanical Engineering – PUC Coração Eucarístico

Lubrication applied in medicine

Introduction Table 1: Advantages and disadvantages between Coatings

The human body naturally ages, and this makes it susceptible to Materials Advantages Disadvantages
TA Low íon released
various diseases that wear joints, such as osteoarthritis. Tribology, High corrosion resistance
Low toxicity
which is the study of friction, wear and lubrication between surfaces, High biocompatibility
Higher wettability
has been used in mechanics and medicine, aiming to obtain intra- Moderate Hardness
GLC Hardness is a lower than DLC
Lower Friction than DLC
corporeal devices with satisfactory mechanical properties to replace
High Load-bearing capacity
these joints and cartilages. The human body is a harsh and Good adhesion
Low internal stress
corrosive environment for the surfaces of these devices. The DLC Hard Brittle
Low Friction Poor adhesion
responses between the contact of this material and the type of Corrosion resistance
Chemical inertes High intern stress up to 10
lubricant used directly interfere in its longevity and also in the human High eletrical resistence GPa or more
Optical transparency
body, being necessary to be biocompatible. Biocompatible
High eletrical resistitivy
Source: CHING et al (2014).

Figure 1: Anatomy of the hip joint left: “dissected” joint, right: A second application for nanoparticles are humanoid robots, which has
in its construction, tissues as similar as possible to the human body.
Sunovialcapsule (WIERZCHOSKI, MISZCZAK, 2016).

Figure 1: a) Valkyrie robot to go to mars ; b) robot joint surfaces, gap

height 20-70μm (own elaboration)
a) b)

Source: MATTEI (2011)

The human body joint lubrication study

The nanoparticles of layered compounds such as MoS2 Souce: WIERZCHOKSKI; MISZCZAK (2016).
(molybdenum disulphide) and WS2 (tungsten sulphide) known as
Conclusion
Fullerenne (IF) type Inorganic Nanotubes (INT) show that this type Nanoparticle additives are the most effective additives nowadays in
of solid additive has satisfactory tribological characteristics and the tribology applied to the medical area, they increase the life time
practical applications.(ADINI; REDLICH; TENNE; 2011). of these artificial prostheses. However, this type of lubrication still
Polyphiloprogenitive (PVP), a water-soluble polymer, is also a new requires much study on its biocompatibility.
lubricant additive concept that has been discussed because of its
References
excellent wear-reduction capability between surfaces. (GUO, HAO,
ADINI, A.R.; REDLICH, M.; TENNE, R. Medical applications of inorganic fullerence-
WAN, 2016). However these additives still require study on their like nanoparticles. In: Journal of Materials Chemistry. Issue 39. 2011.
GUO, Y.; HAO, Z.; WAN, C. Tribological characteristics of polyvinylpyrrolidone
biocompatibility. Tribology is also present in the study of coatings (PVP0 as a lubrication additive for a artificial knee joint. In: Tribology International.
V. 93. Part A. pp 214-219. 2016.
materials used in artificial prostheses, these joints need to be as WIERZCHOLSKI, K.; MISZCZAK, A. The Robot Joint Lubrication With Ultra-thin
Hyperelastic Superficial Layers. In: Journal of KONES Powertrain and Transport,
similar as possible to the originals. The most technologically Vol. 23, No. 3. 2016.
available coatings nowadays are Ta (Tantalum), GLC (similar
Advisor: Wederley Mendes
graphite carbon) and DLC (diamond type carbon), all biocompatible. Students: Alisson Generoso; Charles Martins; Jéssica Lopes;
Matheus Trivelato; Tacio Ribeiro.