Abstract
Ceramic coatings may prolong the lifetime of joint implants. Certain ions and wear debris may however lead to negative biological effects. SiN-based materials may substantially reduce these effects, but still need optimization for the application. In this study, a combinatorial deposition method enabled an efficient evaluation of a range of Si–Fe–C–N coating compositions on the same sample. The results revealed compositional gradients of Si (26.0–33.9 at.%), Fe (9.6–20.9 at.%), C (8.2–13.9 at.%) and N (39.7–47.2 at.%), and low oxygen contaminations (0.3–0.6 at.%). The mechanical properties varied with a hardness (H) ranging between 13.7–17.3 GPa and an indentation modulus (M) between 190–212 GPa. Both H and M correlated with the Si (H and M increased as Si increased) and Fe (H and M decreased as Fe increased) content. A slightly columnar morphology was observed in cross-sections, as well as a surface roughness in the nm range. A cell study revealed adhering pre-osteogenic MC3T3 cells, with a morphology similar to that of cells seeded on a tissue culture plastic control. The investigated coatings could be considered for further investigation due to the ability to tune their mechanical properties while maintaining a smooth surface, together with their promising in vitro cell response.
Highlights
The demand for hip and knee replacement surgery is predicted to increase due to both increasing life expectancy as well as an increasing need in younger patients [1,2,3,4]; total hip replacement surgery has increased and is estimated to further increase by 174% [4] in the United States and 134% [2] in England and Wales between 2010 and 2030
The most common materials used in total joint replacement bearing surfaces are a metal, cobalt chromium alloy (CoCr), paired with a polymer, commonly highly crosslinked polyethylene (HXLPE)
The use of combinatorial sputtering proved to be a useful technique in generating a wide range of compositions in a single sample silicon (26 to 34 at.%), iron (10 to 20 at.%), carbon (8 to 14 at.%)
Summary
The demand for hip and knee replacement surgery is predicted to increase due to both increasing life expectancy as well as an increasing need in younger patients [1,2,3,4]; total hip replacement surgery has increased and is estimated to further increase by 174% [4] in the United States and 134% [2] in England and Wales between 2010 and 2030. As the primary surgeries become more prevalent so do the revision surgeries, with predicted increases as high as 137% and 1264% for total hip arthroplasty revisions and 601% and 332% for total knee arthroplasty revisions in the United States and England plus Wales, respectively. To improve the quality of life for patients undergoing joint replacements it is of utmost importance to increase the replacement’s lifespan in order to minimize the need for revision surgeries, which can be both costly and painful.
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