Properties of hydroxyapatite-coated Ti-6Al-4V alloy produced by the ion-plating method.

To improvement the brittleness of hydroxyapatite (HAp) coated on titanium alloy (Ti-6Al-4V), a thin ceramic layer was formed by means of the RF ion-plating method. The alloy substrates were coated with HAp at 1, 3 or 5 microns thickness and heat-treated at 500 degrees C for 4 hours. Properties of HAp-coated alloy were evaluated by characterization of the ceramic films both before and after heat-treatment, as well as by bending, electrochemical and dissolution tests. HAp-coated film had a slightly higher Ca/P ratio than the original material and was stoichiometrically Ca10(PO4)6(OH)2 by EPMA analysis. HAp was mainly recognized crystallographically by XRD analysis of the films after heat treatment, though it was hardly recognized on before heat-treatment film. These coated materials had a residual strain ranging from 0.3 to 0.7% without causing cracks in the HAp films with the three-point bend testing. Electrochemically, it was confirmed that the corrosion resistance of the Ti alloy was improved by any coating process. The amounts of Ca released from HAp coated film in 0.9% NaCl solution tended to increase with films that were 3 and 5 microns in thickness, but there were no significant differences in Ca released from film before and after heat treatment.