Improvement of Corrosion and Tribological Properties of Ti Alloys Using PVD for Biomedical Applications

The local Saudi Arabian artificial organs market is anticipated to be USD 0.585 billion by the end of 2019, and the global market for implants is growing at 8.8 % to reach $91.42 billion by 2025. Therefore, the development of new biomaterials would provide economical and health outcomes. Ti and Ti-based alloys have applications in medical and dentistry fields and are generally preferred compared to stainless steel, cobalt-based alloys systems for biocompatible applications for their low modulus, and good biocompatibility. Nevertheless, Ti alloys have shortcoming which dont allow them to meet all the clinical requirements. The formation of wear debris due to its lower wear resistance that reduce the life service of the implant and cause implant loosening. It causes degradation of the surface and subsequently failure of implant. Revision surgery, which is the only alternative to overcome these issues, is very expensive and cause pain for the patient. In addition to that, the success rate of such revision surgeries is very small. To overcome this issue and extend the lifetime of the implant, coatings are often applied to enhance corrosion and wear resistance performance. In this research proposal, we intended to improve hardness of the surface, corrosion protection and wear characteristics of TiNbZr alloy by deposit a TiN coating using cathodic arc physical vapour deposition (CA-PVD) .The TiNbZr alloy will be fabricated in-house using an economical processing route; powder metallurgy. After applying TiN coating, structure, microstructural assessment will be carried out. Then, mechanical, wear, and corrosion properties will be studied in a simulated body fluid to examine the influence and improvements of the proposed surface coating on the desired biomaterials properties. This project has an immediate benefit to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia as according to the Saudi Arabian population censuses, the proportion of elderly persons will reach approximately about 2.5 and 5.9 million by 2030 and 2050 respectively which representative 13% of total people. Hence, the demand for bone replacement with implants made from artificial materials is also increasing. The successful implementation of the proposed research work, if funded, would noticeable the path for more in-depth research for this advanced promising biomaterials and lead to the outline of a technological route that can be utilized to develop biomaterials Ti alloys for implant applications.