A (Co-Cr-Mo) hip implant was inserted into a patient’s femur.The acetabular cup was made of surgical stainless steel. After oneyear of operation, the patient was complaining about severe pain.He was put on painkillers because the situation was getting worsewith time. X-ray radiography revealed wear debris as well as alarge gap at the interface between the implant and bone. Theorthopaedic surgeon decided to re-operate to retrieve the oldimplant and replacing it with a new one. He found massive corrosionin the retrieved implant.
i) What would be the causes of that corrosion, wear and theoccurrence of the interfacial gap between the implant and bone?
ii) Describe the factors that should be taken into considerationin the design to minimize these failures.
