Hydroxyapatite (HAp) can be found in teeth and bones within the human body. Thus, it is commonly used as a filler to replace the fractured bone or as a coating material to promote bone ingrowth into prosthetic implants.
Coating of HAp on metal implant has attracted many attentions in biomedical industry recently because of its combination of excellent biocompatibility and good mechanical property. We developed a novel technique to coat HAp on titanium (Ti) fixture surface by using a dry-dipping and heating method. For HAp coating, the Ti fixture processed with resorbable blast media was immersed in HAp powder and sintered at 900°C for 10 - 50 min. The quantitative and qualitative characterizations of HAp layer coated on Ti fixture revealed that the structures, chemical
compositions and crystallinity of HAp coatings were well consistent with the known reference value of HAp. The mechanical analysis showed that the average Vickers hardness at the interface between HAp coatings and Ti fixtures was about 830 HV which was noticeably higher than those at Ti fixture without HAp coating irrespective of sintering time.
The HAp coating layer also showed a good in vitro bioactivity after four weeks of immersion in the simulated body fluid. These results suggest that a dry-dipping and heating method might be an efficient alternative for coating HAp on the surface of Ti fixtures for dental implants without conventional problems such as an expensive production line and complicated production procedures.
Key words: Hydroxyapatite, Biocompatibility, Titanium fixture, Dry-dipping and heating method, Dental implants
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