Mechanochemical characterisation of silica-based coatings on Nitinol substrates

Commercial Nitinol substrates have been coated with mesoporous and microporous silica-based materials. Different surface pre-treatments have been carried out in order to study the influence of the Nitinol external surface on the deposition of the coating materials. Hydrophilic mesoporous amorphous spherical silica microparticles (∼840 nm) and hydrophobic silicalite-1 (an aluminium-free zeolite) crystals (0.5–1.7 μm long) were the materials used to coat the Nitinol substrates. The influence of those coatings on the mechanical performance of the coated Nitinol substrates was analysed by means of flexion studies.