The different properties of titanium oxide biomaterials grown by pulse vacuum arc plasma deposition and unbalanced magnetron sputtering (UBM)

Summary form only given, as follows. Titanium and its alloys are widely used as metallic biomaterials due to their good biocompatibility with tissues, bones, and blood. The reason for the good biocompatibility behavior is a 5-6 nm thin oxide layer (TiO/sub 2/) which forms under atmospheric conditions. The oxide layer states the interface between the biological system and the implant material. Nevertheless, the oxide layer (TiO/sub 2/) is too thin, the use of these titanium-based materials in implants may sometimes cause problem because of their poor surface hardness, wear resistance as well as their high metal ion release ratio. Hence, it is necessary to synthesize a thicker and dense titanium oxide film on titanium or titanium alloy. The objective of the present studies therefore was to characterize the titanium oxide films synthesized by unbalanced magnetron sputtering and metal vacuum arc deposition as well as to test microstructure, composition, mechanical properties, semiconductivity properties and blood compatibility.