Elaboration of sol–gel derived apatite films on surgical grade stainless steel for biomedical applications

Thin film hydroxyapatite deposits through dip-coating onto prefinished low carbon 316L stainless steel substrates were prepared using alkoxide based sol–gel technique. This technique provides several advantages in the control of microstructure and the thickness of the coatings. The coatings were annealed in vacuum; sintering temperature reaching 900 °C were applied to enhance the crystallinity and purity of the films. The resultant coatings have been characterized by the use of FT-IR, XRD, EDXA SEM ICP-AES, shear bond strength and potentiodynamic polarization. The experimental results revealed that the crystallinity, microstructure, corrosion resistance and morphology of the coatings prove the formation of hydroxyapatite coating appropriate for several biomedical applications.