OBJECTIVE To understand the potential fracture mechanism of sternal wires, we collected extracted stainless steel sternal wires from patients with sternal dehiscence following open-heart operations. Surface alterations and fractured ends of sternal wires were inspected and analyzed. METHODS Eight fractured and 12 non-fractured wires extracted from five patients (closure method: figure-of-eigh...

The objective of this study was to investigate the influence different surface pretreatments on aging behavior adhesively bonded carbon fiber reinforced polymers/Al joints in a standardized salt spray environment. Therefore, bonding surfaces were acetone-cleaned or laser-pretreated by near-infrared laser radiation. pretreated examined using optical microscopes, roughness measurements, and infil...

The composition of anodically grown oxide films on Alloy 22, a Ni-Cr-Mo(W) alloy, has been investigated in 5mol l 1 NaCl at room temperature using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry. For applied potentials up to 0.2 V (vs Ag/AgCl (saturated KCl solution)), a Cr(III) oxide barrier layer develops at the alloy/oxide interface accounting for the exce...

While mechanically-assisted crevice corrosion (MACC) at the head/neck junction of modular total hip arthroplasty (THA) femoral components was first described over two decades ago, it is only within the last few years that investigators have observed that adverse local tissue reactions (ALTRs) associated with MACC are an increasingly prevalent mode of failure of contemporary THAs. As yet, the in...