Quantitative evaluation and assessment of tribocorrosion current models in biomedical implant materials

Tribocorrosion is a material degradation process resulting from the simultaneous action of tribological factors (e.g. friction, wear, lubrication, roughness, contact pressure, and sliding speed) and corrosion. It is a problem in medical implants, which results in tissue inflammation, systemic toxicity, and implant failure. Tribocorrosion current is a novel way to understand the underlying principle of how degradation occurs. The tribocorrosion current is the total electrochemical response generated due to the mechanical wear in the implant and associated with the passivation and repassivation kinetics. This research investigates several tribocorrosion mathematical models to identify the most suitable model for describing the experimental data. The study is divided into two sections. Part 1 focuses on using existing data from literature and verifying mathematical models. Part 2 focuses on conducting lab experiments and comparing the data with the model values. The method of conducting experiments and the protocols is similar to previous researchers. Under the experimental conditions and assumed parameter values, Feyzi and Hashemi's model and Olsson and Stemp's model demonstrated higher accuracy. It is observed that some parameters like oxide film thickness have a major effect on the prediction capabilities of the models.