Characterization, mechanical properties and corrosion resistance of biocompatible Zn-HA/TiO2 nanocomposite coatings

Biocompatible Zinc-hydroxyapatite-titania and Zinc-hydroxyapatite nanocomposite coatings have been prepared by electrodeposition on NiTi shape memory alloy. Structures of coatings were characterized using X-ray diffraction (XRD). It was found that addition of TiO2 particles cause to reduction of crystallite size of coating. Scanning Electronic Microscope (SEM) observation showed that the Zn-HA/TiO2 coating consists of plate-like regions which can express that this plate-like structure can facilitate bone growth. X-ray photoelectron microscope (XPS) was performed to investigation of chemical state of composite coating and showed that Zinc matrix was bonded to oxygen. high-resolution transmission electron microscope (HRTEM) result illustrated the crystalline structure of nanocomposite coating. Mechanical behavior of coating was evaluated using microhardness and ball on disk wear test. The TiO2 incorporated composite coatings exhibited the better hardness and anti-wear performance than the Zn-HA coatings. Polarization measurements have been used to evaluate the electrochemical coatings performance. The Zn-HA/TiO2 composite coatings showed the highest corrosion resistance compared with Zn-HA and bare NiTi.