The wear properties of NbN thin film coated by PIII&D technique for total hip replacement

The NbN films were deposited on Co-Cr alloy using Plasma Immersion Ion Implantation & Deposition (PIII&D) technique, which enabled the simultaneous modification of the growing films by ion bombardment during deposition. We performed nitrogen ion implantation on Co-Cr alloy prior to the deposition process and introduced dynamic ion mixing process in which deposition and ion implantation process were conducted simultaneously during the initial stage of NbN film deposition. The aim of this study is to reduce the volumetric wear rate of UHMWPE against Co-Cr alloy, which is a typical bearing couple for total hip replacement.