Titre : Impact of texture on the sliding wear behaviour of UHMWPE
Résumé : Ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE) is a material widely used as bearing material in joint prostheses whose durability depends on its chemical and mechanical properties. One of the main steps in the production of UHMWPE parts for prostheses is an irradiation-induced cross-linking that considerably improves wear resistance, but at the same time lowers drastically the chemical stability, tensile strength, and toughness of UHMWPE.
Texturing like e.g. the formation of a stretched molecular network, could be an alternative treatment to cross-linking, since it can increase strength and toughness of a polymer without altering its chemical properties. However, little information is yet available about the effect of chain orientation on the sliding and wear behaviour of textured UHMWPE. In this PhD thesis, the effect of the chain orientation state on the sliding and wear behaviour of UHMWPE is investigated as well as the underlying mechanisms.