Microwave assisted apatite coating deposition on Ti6Al4V implants

In this work we report a novel microwave assisted technology to deposit a uniform, ultra-thin apatite coating without any cracks on titanium implants in minutes. This method comprises of conventional biomimetic coating in synergism with microwave irradiation to result in alkaline earth phosphate nucleation. The microwave assisted coating process mainly follows the initial stages of biomimetic coating until the step of the Ca-P nuclei formation. After that, due to microwave irradiation more Ca-P nuclei are formed to cover the whole surface of the implant instead of the growth of deposited Ca-P nuclei to Ca-P globules and coatings. It is interesting to note the doping of Mg2+ to Ca-P apatite coating can significantly change the properties and performances of as-deposited coatings. The hydrophilicity, physical properties, bioactivity, cell adhesion, and growth capability of as-deposited microwave assisted coatings were investigated. The study shows that this coating technology has great potential in biomedical applications. Additionally, since biomimetic coating can be applied to series of implant materials such as polymer, metals and glass, it is expected this microwave assisted coating technology can also be applied to these materials if they can remains stable at 100 degrees C, the boiling point of water. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.