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Treating orthopedic prosthesis with diamond-like carbon: minimizing debris in Ti6Al4V

Journal of Materials Science: Materials in Medicine volume 25, pages 2347–2355 (2014)Cite this article

Abstract

Prostheses are subject to various forms of failing mechanisms, including wear from ordinary patient motion. Superficial treatments can improve tribological properties of the contact pair, minimizing wear and increasing prostheses lifetime. One possibility is the diamond-like carbon (DLC) coating, where Carbon is deposited with variable ratio of sp2/sp3 structures, leading to an increase in surface hardness. So in this research Ti6Al4V samples were coated with DLC using sputtering process to evaluate the debris release. The Ti6Al4V and Ti6Al4V plus DLC coating surfaces were analyzed using Raman spectroscopy and instrumented indentation (hardness). The wear behavior was tested using a reciprocating linear tribometer. The wear rate was smaller in the coated samples, producing less debris than the untreated Ti6Al4V alloy. Debris morphology was also evaluated, using scanning electronic microscopy, and it was observed that debris size from the coated samples were bigger than those observed from the uncoated Ti6Al4V alloy, above the size that generally triggers biological response from the host.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thanks Dr. Ronaldo Ruas, from Brasimet Bodycote, for the DLC deposition; Irineu Vitor Leite and Dr. Geninho Thomé, from Neoortho Produtos Ortopédicos S/A, for the Ti6Al4V samples; LabNano and CME from UFPR for hardness tests and Raman spectroscopy.

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Affiliations

  1. Programa de Pos-Graduação em Engenharia Mecanica (PG-MEC), Universidade Federal do Paraná (UFPR), Rua Francisco H. dos Santos, P.O. Box 19011, Curitiba, PR, Brazil

    Luciane Y. S. Oliveira, Neide K. Kuromoto & Carlos J. M. Siqueira

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  1. Luciane Y. S. Oliveira
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  2. Neide K. Kuromoto
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  3. Carlos J. M. Siqueira
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Correspondence to Luciane Y. S. Oliveira.

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Oliveira, L.Y.S., Kuromoto, N.K. & Siqueira, C.J.M. Treating orthopedic prosthesis with diamond-like carbon: minimizing debris in Ti6Al4V. J Mater Sci: Mater Med 25, 2347–2355 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10856-014-5252-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10856-014-5252-y

Keywords

  • Wear Rate
  • UHMWPE
  • Wear Track
  • Ti6Al4V Alloy
  • Cobalt Chromium Alloy