Sol–gel derived hydroxyapatite coatings on titanium and its alloy Ti6Al4V

Titanium has been used for many medical and dental applications; however, its joining to a living bone is not satisfactorily good or the implant integration with bone tissue takes several months.The aim of this work is to produce hydroxyapatite (HAP) coatings on titanium and its alloy for facilitating and shortening the processes towards osseointegration. HAP coatings were obtained by sol–gel method with sol solutions prepared from calcium nitrate tetrahydrate and triammonium phosphate trihydrate as the calcium and phosphorous sources. Two types of gelatine were added to the sol: agar–agar or animals gelatine. Both were found to enhance the formation and stability of amorphous HAP using soluble salts as the sources of calcium and phosphate. HAP coatings were deposited from HAP–GEL sol using dip-withdrawal technique, then the plates were dried and annealed at temperatures 460–750 °C. FTIR spectroscopy and XRD analysis were used to study the phase composition of phosphate coatings. Morphology and chemical analysis of HAP layers was performed using a scanning electron microscope equipped with an energy dispersive X-ray analyser (SEM+EDX). The biological activity of sol–gel phosphate coatings was observed during thermostatic held in simulated body fluid (SBF). It was found that chemical composition and structure of HAP coatings depends on pH and final thermal treatment of the layer.