STRUCTURAL AND MECHANICAL CHARACTERIZATION OF TITANIUM BIOCOMPATIBLE LAYERS DEPOSITED BY HVOF THERMAL SPRAYING METHOD

11th International Multidisciplinary Scientific GeoConference SGEM2011, www.sgem.org, SGEM2011 Conference Proceedings/ ISSN 1314-2704, June 20-25, 2011, Vol. 2, 739-744 pp

ABSTRACT

Titanium is a biocompatible material used in dentistry as unalloyed (minimum purity
99.4%) and alloyed, the most widely used is TiAl6V4 despite some reservations about
the releasing of Al and V ions, which can be accumulated in the tissues. To increase the
surface contact between the implant and bone, facilitating osseointegration the implants
are coated with titanium or ceramic materials leading to a roughness surface which
creates conditions for bone growth, resulting a better anchoring between the implant and
bone. The paper presents the experimental results of titanium biocompatible deposition
on titanium alloy (Ti6Al4V). The experimental program aimed the structural and
mechanical evaluation of the deposited layers realized by HVOF thermal spraying
process (High Velocity Oxy-Fuel). After the optical and electronic microscopy analysis
were not observed defects as microcracks or exfoliation. X-ray diffraction analysis
showed that the deposited layer is mainly composed of titanium and oxides resulted
from the thermal spraying process. The roughness of the deposited layers has values
between 4.54 and 5.23 μm, which will provide a proper implant osseointegration in the human body.

Keywords: thermal spraying, biocompatible layers, surface roughness, osseointegration