Degradation behaviour of Ti-12Nb alloy coated with ZnO/TiN double layer

Abstract

Ti and its alloys have attracted attention for biomedical applications, but their low tribocorrosion resistance, lack of bioactivity and antimicrobial properties are still major clinical concerns. In this study a ZnO coating, intended to act as an antibacterial agent, was deposited on a Ti-12Nb alloy, which was previously coated with a TiN hard coating, for improving tribocorrosion resistance. The idea behind is the proof-of -concept that ZnO is able to provide interesting tribological properties to the surface, thus inspiring new ZnO-containing surfaces that can combine antimicrobial properties and tribocorrosion resistance. Thus, the corrosion behaviour was studied by open circuit potential, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy, and potentiodynamic polarization tests in phosphate buffered solution at body temperature. The tribocorrosion behaviour was carried out at open circuit potential under 0.5 N of normal load, 1 Hz frequency, during 3600 s sliding in phosphate buffered solution at body temperature. The results indicated that duplex coating sample showed better corrosion resistance and drastically better tribocorrosion resistance compared to uncoated and single TiN coating samples.