Electrophoretic deposition of nanocomposite (HAp + TiO2) on titanium alloy for biomedical applications

This paper reports on the corrosion and scratch behavior of TiO2 + 50%HAp nanoceramic coated Ti-13Nb-13Zr orthopedic implant alloy. An adherent thin coating was obtained using the electrophoretic deposition (EPD) technique at 30 V and sintering at 850 degrees C. The microstructure of the coated surfaces was characterized by optical microscopy, AFM, and SEM, and the composition of the coating was examined using EDAX. The functional groups and formed phases analyzed using FT-IR, and XRD. Further, the adhesion strength of the coatings was evaluated using scratch tester and the corrosion behavior of all samples was tested in Simulated Body Fluid (SBF-Hank's solution) using a potentiodynamic polarization studies. The sintered coating exhibited higher adhesion, lower porosity and higher density compared to unsintered samples, and higher corrosion resistance compared to the substrate. However, the corrosion resistance of the unsintered coating was superior to that of the sintered one due to the presence of minimal interconnected porosity. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd and Techna Group S.r.l. All rights reserved.