S. Yugeswaran

Mechanical properties, electrochemical corrosion and in-vitro bioactivity of yttria stabilized zirconia reinforced hydroxyapatite coatings prepared by gas tunnel type plasma spraying

Yttria stabilized zirconia reinforced hydroxyapatite coatings were deposited by a gas tunnel type plasma spray torch under optimum spraying conditions. For this purpose, 10, 20 and 30 wt% of yttria stabilized zirconia (YSZ) powders were premixed individually with hydroxyapatite (HA) powder and were used as the feedstocks for the coatings. The effect of YSZ reinforcement on the phase formation and mechanical properties of the coatings such as hardness, adhesive strength and sliding wear rates was examined. The results showed that the reinforcement of YSZ in HA could significantly enhance the hardness and adhesive strength of the coatings. The potentiodynamic polarization and impedance measurements showed that the reinforced coatings exhibited superior corrosion resistance compared to the HA coating in SBF solution. Further the results of the bioactivity test conducted by immersion of coatings in SBF showed that after 10 days of immersion of the obtained coatings with all the above compositions commonly exhibited the onset of bioactive apatite formation except for HA+10%YSZ coating. The cytocompatibility was investigated by culturing the green fluorescent protein (GFP)-labeled marrow stromal cells (MSCs) on the coating surface. The cell culture results revealed that the reinforced coatings have superior cell growth than the pure HA coatings.

Comparative Evaluation of the Bioactive Behavior of HA and ZrO2 Reinforced Coatings

The clinical use of plasma-sprayed hydroxyapatite (HA) coatings on metal implants has been widely investigated as the HA coating can achieve the firm and direct biological fixation with the surrounding bone tissue. It is shown in previous studies that the mechanical properties of HA coatings are improved by the addition of ZrO2 particles during the deposition of the coating on the substrate. Subsequently, the cohesive and adhesive strengths of plasma-sprayed hydroxyapatite (HA) coatings were strengthened by the ZrO2 particles addition as a reinforcing agent in the HA coating (HA+ZrO2 composite coating). The aim of the present work is to investigate and evaluate the in vitro bioactivity assessment of HA and HA/ZrO2 coatings, on stainless steel substrate, soaked in c-SBF, in order to study and compare their biological responses. The coatings were produced using vapor plasma spraying (VPS). The characterization of the surface of the coatings before and after soaking in SBF solution was performed using Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and X-ray Diffraction analysis (XRD). All samples were smoothed before insertion in the medium and the in vitro bioactivity of all coating samples was tested in conventional Simulated Body Fluid (c-SBF) solution for various immersion times.