Joint Lubrication and Wear

Friction, wear, and lubrication are important for maintaining normal physiological functions of the moving organs/tissues in the human body, especially for the tribological systems such as joint. The natural synovial joint has excellent lubrication performance under high mechanical loading. The superlubrication behavior between the articular cartilage surfaces of the synovial joint cannot be replicated even with the most advanced technologies currently available. Once the articular cartilage is worn and the synovial joint develops into osteoarthritis, artificial biolubricant or artificial joint replacement can be performed to treat this disease. In this chapter, the lubrication and wear properties of natural and artificial joints are discussed with the introduction of recent research progress in this filed.