9871943 LaBerge Laboratory of Polymeric Bearing Modeling, Characterization, and Simulation This research project will establish a Cooperative Science and Technology Research Laboratory within the State of South Carolina focused on the tribological performance of polymeric bearings. The Laboratory is being developed jointly at Clemson University and the Medical University of South Carolina under the auspices of the Bioengineering Alliance of South Carolina. It will study polymeric wear observed in conventional and orthopedic bearings. Within the 24-month award period a more fundamental understanding of the mechanical, chemical and biological physical processes, which control the performance of polymeric bearing surfaces, will be developed through team work between the investigators of the Laboratory under the guidance of an advisory board. This significant R&D problem will be addressed at the microscopic and macroscopic scales for both for computational modeling and experiments. By maintaining a close collaboration and communication with the members of an industrial advisory board, the models and experimental analysis and testing methodology developed will be marketed to the industrial sector. Project results will be applied to analysis of polymeric wear and to the prediction of its clinical occurrence with existing artificial joints, as well as with alternative bearing materials. The analysis and experimental capabilities developed in this Laboratory will also be extended to the study of other polymeric bearing applications and materials such as those commonly utilized in the automotive and textile industries, each of which represent significant segments of the economy in the State of South Carolina. The long term goal of this unique Laboratory is to provide advanced investigational tools necessary to predict the clinical occurrence of polymeric wear.
