Co-regulation of Cu/Zn contents enhanced the biological and mechanical properties of TiN coated Ti-6Al-4V alloy

Abstract

Surface modification is considered to be an important approach for improving the antibacterial activity and cytocompatibility of Ti-6Al-4V alloy. In this study, TiN was firstly deposited on the surface of Ti-6Al-4V alloy by a multi-arc ion plating system to wrap toxic elements and improve the wear resistance. Then Cu and Zn ions with different contents were simultaneously implanted into TiN via plasma immersion ion implantation system (PIII). The chemical characteristics of the samples were investigated by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The corrosion resistance and hardness of the samples were obtained by potentiodynamic polarization and nanoindenter respectively. The biological assays were evaluated by bovine serum albumin (BSA), MC3T3-E1cells and Escherichia coli (E. coli) in vitro. These results confirm that Cu/Zn-TiN(30 min) has excellent antibacterial property and ideal cytocompatibility, but its mechanical property was slightly inferior to Cu/Zn-TiN(60 min) and Cu/Zn-TiN(90 min). Therefore, the selection of suitable co-implantation content of copper and zinc ions is particularly important for the bone transplants in clinic application.