Thermal residual stresses near the interface between plasma-sprayed hydroxyapatite coating and titanium substrate: finite element analysis and synchrotron radiation measurements.

Plasma-sprayed hydroxyapatite (HA) coatings on titanium alloy are often used in prosthetic implants. The metallic substrate gives the implant good mechanical strength which is combined with good biocompatibility and osteointegration of the ceramic coating. However, the interface between the HA coating and titanium alloy substrate is an area of critical weakness when compared with the interlamellar cohesive strength of the HA coating structure. Knowledge of the stresses in materials near the interface seems to be an important step in understanding why failure occurs. Synchrotron radiation, using Beamline BM16 at the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (Grenoble, France), has been used to determine local stresses near the interface, down to 10 microm in resolution, between a plasma-sprayed HA coating and a titanium alloy substrate. This experimental determination of residual stresses is compared with the results found by a finite element analysis modeling the thermal effects of the plasma-spraying process. Residual stresses have been found in deposited ceramic near the interface due to a thermal properties mismatch of the materials. If the plane stress state is assumed, meaning the perpendicular component of residual stress is ignored (sigma(z) = 0), then the synchrotron residual stress measurements should be interpreted as mainly compressive in the ceramic coating. This is in contradiction with the coefficient of thermal expansion mismatch; therefore, the simplified plane stresses assumption seems to be inappropriate for the deposited morphology characterized by pores and a network of microcracks. The detailed finite element analysis model, taking into account the real morphology of the coating and the real three-dimensional stress field distribution, allowed the estimation of sigma(z), leading to a more accurate interpretation of synchrotron measurements, which is validated by the experimental results.