Abstract
Nanostructured tantalum nitride coatings are widely used in biomedical engineering due to the good hardness, wear resistance, and corrosion resistance. In this work, TaN and Ta/TaN nanostructured coatings were deposited on the NiTi alloy by magnetron sputtering for 150 min at a pressure of 3.8 × 10–3 mbar using a power of 143 W. The phase, structure, morphology, and thickness were evaluated by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), field-emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), and atomic force microscopy (AFM), respectively. The nanomechanical properties such as Young's modulus (E) and hardness were determined by nano-indentation and nano-scratch tests. To assess the biological properties of the coatings, the antimicrobial activity was monitored by the disk diffusion antibiogram technique using E.coli as the model gram-negative bacteria and S. aureus as the gram-positive bacteria and the biocompatibility was also studied. A homogeneous, uniform, and crack-free of TaN monolayered and Ta/TaN bilayered coating with a thickness 1050 and 1310 nm, respectively, were produced by magnetron sputtering. As a result of the Ta middle layer in the Ta/TaN coating, the hardness increased by 22% from 6.3 ± 0.5 GPa to 7.6 ± 0.5GPa under a load of 700 µN and 6% from 6.1 ± 0.2 GPa to 6.5 ± 0.3 GPa under a load of 1000 µN. The critical load also increased from 3.7 ± 0.2 to 4.1 ± 0.6 N in the presence of the Ta intermediate layer which improved the adhesion strength of the Ta/TaN bilayer compared to the TaN monolayer. In addition, the Ta intermediate layer increased the flexibility leading to a adhesive wear mechanism for the friction behavior of Ta/TaN. The bacteriostatic ability against gram-negative bacteria and bacteriocidal ability against gram-positive bacteria increase. Our results demonstrate that the nanostructured Ta/TaN bilayer coating provides a better bioactive surface for the growth and proliferation of MG-63 ossicular osteosarcoma cells growth as well.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Alami J, Eklund P, Andersson JM, Lattemann M, Wallin E, Bohlmark J, Persson P, Helmersson U (2007) Phase tailoring of Ta thin films by highly ionized pulsed magnetron sputtering. Thin Solid Films 515:3434–3438
Arranz A, Palacio C (2005) Composition of tantalum nitride thin films grown by low-energy nitrogen implantation: a factor analysis study of the Ta 4f XPS core level. Appl Phys A 81:1405–1410
Beake BD, Harris AJ (2019) Nanomechanics to 1000 °C for high temperature mechanical properties of bulk materials and hard coatings. Vacuum 159:17–28
Bernoulli D, Müller U, Schwarzenberger M, Hauert R, Spolenak R (2013) Magnetron sputter deposited tantalum and tantalum nitride thin films: an analysis of phase, hardness and composition. Thin Solid Films 548:157–161
Cristea D, Crisan A, Munteanu D, Apreutesei M, Costa MF, Cunha L (2014) Tantalum oxynitride thin films: Mechanical properties and wear behavior dependence on growth conditions. Surf Coat Technol 258:587–596
Espinar E, Llamas JM, Michiardi A, Ginebra MP, Gil FJ (2011) Reduction of Ni releaseand improvement of the friction behaviour of NiTi orthodontic arch wires by oxidation treatments. J Mater Sci Mater Med 22(5):1119–1125
Ghasemi S, Shanaghi A, Chu PK (2017) Nano mechanical and wear properties of multi-layer Ti/TiN coatings deposited on Al 7075 by high-vacuum magnetron sputtering. Thin Solid Films 638:96–104
Grosser M, Münch M, Seidel H, Bienert C, Roosen A, Schmid U (2012) The impact of substrate properties and thermal annealing on tantalum nitride thin films. Appl Surf Sci 258:2894–2900
Hsieh JH, Yeh TH, Hung SY, Chang SY, Wu W, Li C (2012) Antibacterial and tribological properties of TaN–Cu, TaN–Ag, and TaN–(Ag, Cu) nanocomposite thin films. Mater Res Bull 47:2999–3003
Huang HL, Chang YY, Lai MC, Lin CR, Lai CH, Shieh TM (2010) Antibacterial TaN-Ag coatings on titanium dental implants. Surf Coat Technol 205:1636–1641
Ing GM, Kaciulis S, Mezzi A, Valente T, Casadei F, Gusmano G (2005) Characterization of composite titanium nitride coatings prepared by reactive plasma spraying. Electrochim Acta 50:4531–4537
Jara A, Fraisse B, Flaud V, Fréty N, Gonzalez G (2017) Thin film deposition of Ta, TaN and Ta/TaN bi-layer on Ti and SS316-LVMsubstrates by RF sputtering. Surf Coat Technol 309:887–896
Jin W, Wang G, Lin Z, Feng H, Li W, Peng X, Qasim AM, Chu PK (2017) Corrosion resistance and cytocompatibility of tantalum-surface-functionalized biomedical ZK60 Mg alloy. Corros Sci 114:45–56
Kazemi M, Ahangarani S, Esmailian M, Shanaghi A (2020) Investigation on the corrosion behavior and biocompatibility of Ti-6Al-4V implant coated with HA/TiN dual layer for medical applications. Surf Coat Technol 397:126044
Kim SK, Cha BC (2005) Deposition of tantalum nitride thin films by D.C. magnetron sputtering. Thin Solid Films 475:202–207
Lamour P, Fioux P, Ponche A, Nardin M, Vallat MF, Dugay P, Brun JP, Moreaud N, Pinvidic JM (2008) Direct measurement of the nitrogen content by XPS in self-passivated TaNx thin films. Surf Interface Anal 40(11):1430–1437
Lee GR, Kim H, Choi HS, Lee JJ (2007) Superhard tantalum-nitride films formed by inductively coupled plasma-assisted sputtering. Surf Coat Technol 201:5207–5210
Leng YX, Sun H, Yang P, Chen JY, Wang J, Wan GJ, Huang N, Tian XB, Wang LP, Chu PK (2001) Biomedical properties of tantalum nitride films synthesized by reactive magnetron sputtering. Thin Solid Films 398:471–475
Li TS, Li H, Pan F (2001) Microstructure and nanoindentation hardness of Ti/TiN multilayered films. Surf Coat Technol 137(2–3):225–229
Liqiang Z, Yongli D, Zhenfei G, Juan M, Rui L, Sijin L, Zhiqiang T, Yi L, Chenghao B, Lishan C, Fan Y, Jingfu L, Jing K, Yongfeng L (2017) Graphene enhanced anti-corrosion and biocompatibility of NiTi alloy. Nano Impact 7:7–14
Ma G, Lin G, Gong S, Liu X, Sun G, Wu H (2013) Mechanical and corrosive characteristicsof Ta/TaN multilayer coatings. Vacuum 89:244–248
Marattukalama JJ, Kumar Singha A, Datta S, Das M, Krishna Balla V, Bontha S, Kalpathy SK (2015) Microstructure and corrosion behavior of laser processed NiTi alloy. Mater Sci Eng C 57:309–313
Mehrjou B, Dehghan-Baniani D, Shi M, Shanaghi A, Wang G, Liu L, Mateen Qasim A, Chu PK (2020) Nanopatterned silk-coated AZ31 magnesium alloy with enhanced antibacterial and corrosion properties. Mater Sci Eng C. 116:111173
Mendizabal L, Lopez A, Bayón R, Herrero-Fernandez P, Barriga J, Gonzalez JJ (2016) Tribocorrosion response in biological environments of multilayer TaN films deposited by HPPMS. Surf Coat Technol 295:60–69
Meng L, Li Y, Pan K, Zhu Y, Wei W, Li X, Liu X (2018) Colloidal particle based electrodeposition coatings on NiTi alloy: Reduced releasing of nickel ions and improved biocompatibility. Mater Lett 230:228–231
Oliver WC, Pharr GM (1992) An improved technique for determining hardness and elastic modulus using load and displacement sensing indentation experiments. J Mater Res 7(06):1564–1583
Österlund E, Kinnunen J, Rontu V, Torkkeli A, Paulasto-Kröckel M (2019) Mechanical properties and reliability of aluminum nitride thin films. J Alloys Compd 772:306–313
Poh CK, Shi Z, Lim TY, Neoh KG, Wang W (2010) The effect of VEGF functionalization of titanium on endothelial cells in vitro. Biomaterials 31:1578–1585
Shanaghi A, Sabour Rouhaghdam AR, Ahangarani S, Chu PK (2012) Effect of plasma CVD operating temperature on nanomechanical properties of TiC nanostructured coating investigated by atomic force microscopy. Mater Res Bull 47:2200–2205
Shanaghi A, Souri AR, Rafie M, Chu PK (2019) Nano-mechanical properties of zirconia-alumina-benzotriazolenano-composite coating deposited on Al2024 by the sol-gel method. Thin Solid Films 689:137417
Shanaghi A, Mehrjou B, Ahmadian Z, Souri AR, Chu PK (2021) Enhanced corrosion resistance, antibacterial properties, and biocompatibility by hierarchical hydroxyapatite/ciprofloxacin-calcium phosphate coating on nitrided NiTi alloy. Mater Sci Eng C 118:111524
Wang X, Liu F, Song Y (2018) Enhanced corrosion resistance and in vitro bioactivity of NiTi alloys modified with hydroxyapatite-containing Al2O3 coatings. Surf Coat Technol 344:288–294
Xu S, Munroe P, Xu J, Xie ZH (2016) The microstructure and mechanical properties of tantalum nitride coatings deposited by a plasma assisted bias sputtering deposition process. Surf Coat Technol 307:470–475
Zhang JX, Guan RF, Zhang XP (2011) Synthesis and characterization of sol- gel hydroxyapatite coatings deposited on porous NiTi alloys. J Alloys Compd 509(13):4643–4648
Funding
The work was financially supported by Malayer University Research Grant, City University of Hong Kong Strategic Research Grant (GRF) No. 7005264, as well as Guangdong—Hong Kong Technology Cooperation Funding Scheme (TCFS) GHP/085/18SZ (CityU 9440230).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding authors
Ethics declarations
Conflict of interest
The authors declare that they have NO affiliations with or involvement in any organization or entity with any financial interest, or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.
Ethical approval
This article does not contain any studies with human participants or animals performed by any of the authors.
Additional information
Publisher's Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Supplementary Information
Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Shanaghi, A., Souri, A.R., Saedi, H. et al. Effects of the tantalum intermediate layer on the nanomechanical properties and biocompatibility of nanostructured tantalum/tantalum nitride bilayer coating deposited by magnetron sputtering on the nickel titanium alloy. Appl Nanosci 11, 1867–1880 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13204-021-01852-1
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13204-021-01852-1