Zheng Changqiong, Yin Guangfu and Luo Jiaoming

Sichuan Union University, Chengdu, 610065, China
suucust@rose.cnc.ac.cn

Titanic alloy is one kind of the biomaterials which have been widely used in total hip joint replacements due to its high strength and low density. Because they will be in contact with bloood and body fluid, and will undergo friction and the action of stress, it is necessary for the artificial joint materials to be wear-resistant, corrosion-resistant and haemo-compatible. The experimental results showed that the production of wear debris is one of the most important factors resulting in sterile loosening of total hip joint replacements. In order to reduce the production of wear debris and consequent prosthesis failure, a lot of new materials have been developed, one of which is the titanic alloy coated with TiN film. Due to the weaker adhesion at interface and the great differences in composition, structure, and thermal expansion coefficient between substrates and coatings, the coatings would sometimes peel off from substrates while the stress or thermal shock was great enough. It would lead the failure of artificial joint replacement.

In this study, a new kind of Ti-N gradient artificial joint biomaterial has been prepared by means of plasma source ion implant - ion beam enhanced deposition (PSII-IBED). The TiN coating could strongly combine with titanic substrate because the composition and structure in this material could be gradually distributed along the depth through adjusting implant and deposition conditions. The experimental results showed that this gradient material was wear-resistant, corrosion-resistant and haemo-compatible, and could be widely applied in artificial joint replacements.