A novel Tantalum coating on porous SiC used for bone filling material

• A novel tantalum coated porous SiC scaffolds was designed for bone grafts application.
• An impact and adherent Ta film was obtained by CVD.
• Good adhesion and spreading of MC3T3-E1 on the surface of Ta coating.

The bioactive metallic tantalum coating was successfully deposited on the surface of porous SiC by means of chemical vapor deposition (CVD). The morphology and phase composition of tantalum coating were characterized by SEM, EDS and XRD. The cell adhesion test was employed with pre-osteoblast to evaluate the cytocompatibility of Ta coating. The results showed an impact and adherent Ta film was coated on the surface of SiC. The MC3T3-E1 cells showed good adhesion and spreading on the surface of Ta coating, which indicated excellent bioactivity and cytocompatibility. It was proved that the porous SiC with Ta coating could be a potential material for the application as bone substitutes.