A Review of Mechanical, Tribological and Degradation Characteristics of Fused Filament Fabricated PLA for Acetabular Liner Applications

DOI

10.2991/978-94-6239-750-7_49How to use a DOI?

Keywords

Polylactic Acid (PLA); Fused Filament Fabrication (FFF); Acetabular Liner; Hip Arthroplasty; Parylene Coating

Abstract

Acetabular liners are subjected to very demanding requirements when used in total hip arthroplasty, with a requirement for low wear, mechanical reliability and long-term stability under physiological conditions. Though ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene is the current clinical standard including cross-linked and antioxidant-stabilized, long-term use is still associated with generation of wear particles, oxidative degradation, and revision surgery. Meanwhile, further development of FFF has revived the interest in PLA for use as a customized acetabular liner due to its biocompatible characteristics, 3D-printability and versatility of its structure–property relationship. The study aims to review and to critically assess the research on mechanical, tribological and degradation behavior of printed PLA parts from the last decade or so with a special focus on the applications of printed acetabular liner cups. Degradation analyses show that PLA undergoes hydrolytic chain scission and progressive stiffness reduction over months to years in physiological environments, with degradation accelerated by mechanical loading and the porous architectures inherent to FFF fabrication. Only a small number of studies have directly assessed 3D-printed PLA acetabular liners, demonstrated good dimensional accuracy and acceptable short-term wear but lacked long-term simulator validation. Consequently, while neat PLA is unlikely to replace polyethylene in permanent load-bearing liners, PLA-based composites, functionally graded designs and thin protective coatings such as parylene present promising options for temporary, low-load or proof-of-concept applications in hip arthroplasty.

Copyright

© 2026 The Author(s)

Open Access

Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

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TY  - CONF
AU  - Mukesh Kumar
AU  - Shobhit Srivastava
AU  - Jasvinder Singh
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/08/31
TI  - A Review of Mechanical, Tribological and Degradation Characteristics of Fused Filament Fabricated PLA for Acetabular Liner Applications
BT  - Proceedings of the International Conference on Advanced Design, Manufacturing, and Sustainable Energy Systems (ICADMSES 2026)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 671
EP  - 682
SN  - 2589-4943
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-94-6239-750-7_49
DO  - 10.2991/978-94-6239-750-7_49
ID  - Kumar2026
ER  -