PEEK-OPTIMA™ is being considered as an alternative bearing material to cobalt chrome in the femoral component of total knee replacement to provide a metal-free implant. The aim of this study was to investigate the influence of lubricant temperature (standard rig running and elevated temperature (~36 °C)) on the wear of a UHMWPE-on-PEEK OPTIMA™ bearing couple using different lubricant protein concentrations (0%, 2%, 5%, 25% and 90% bovine serum) in a simple geometry pin-on-plate configuration. Friction was also investigated under a single temperature condition for different lubricant protein concentrations. The studies were repeated for UHMWPE-on-cobalt chrome in order to compare relationships with temperature (wear only) and lubricant protein concentration (wear and friction).

In low lubricant protein concentrations (≤ 5%) there was no influence of temperature on the wear factors of UHMWPE-on-PEEK. With 25% bovine serum, the wear factor of UHMWPE-on-PEEK reduced by half at elevated temperature. When tested in high protein concentration (90% serum), there was no influence of temperature on the wear factor of UHMWPE-on-PEEK. These temperature dependencies were not the same for UHMWPE-on-cobalt chrome.

For both material combinations, there was a trend of decreasing friction with increasing protein concentration once protein was present in the lubricant.

This study has shown the importance of the selection of appropriate test conditions when investigating the wear and friction of different materials, in order to minimise test artefacts such as polymer transfer, and protein precipitation and deposition.

PEEK-OPTIMA™被认为是全膝关节置换股骨组件中钴铬合金的替代轴承材料，以提供无金属的植入物。这项研究的目的是研究润滑剂温度（标准钻机运行和高温（〜36°C））对使用不同润滑剂蛋白浓度（0％， 2％，5％，25％和90％的牛血清）以简单的几何销钉装板配置。还研究了在单一温度条件下对于不同润滑剂蛋白浓度的摩擦。为了比较与温度（仅磨损）和润滑剂蛋白浓度（磨损和摩擦）之间的关系，对UHMWPE-钴铬合金进行了重复研究。

在低润滑剂蛋白浓度（≤5％）下，温度对UHMWPE-on-PEEK的磨损因子没有影响。使用25％的牛血清，高温下UHMWPE-on-PEEK的磨损系数降低了一半。在高蛋白浓度（90％血清）中进行测试时，温度对UHMWPE-on-PEEK的磨损因子没有影响。这些温度依赖性对于钴铬酸盐超高分子量聚乙烯是不同的。

对于这两种材料组合，一旦蛋白质存在于润滑剂中，就会随着蛋白质浓度的增加而减小摩擦。

这项研究表明，在调查不同材料的磨损和摩擦时，选择合适的测试条件非常重要，这样可以最大程度地减少测试伪影，例如聚合物转移，蛋白质沉淀和沉积。