Thermal Sprayed Composite Coatings for Biomedical Implants: A Brief Review

Abstract

The implant materials used currently in field of cardiovascular and orthopedics surgery dearth in osteoconductivity. Different surface modification techniques are used, developed and investigated over the years to enhance the osteoconductivity of biomaterials like metals, polymer and ceramics. Although implants made up of metals are strong mechanically but have low bonding ability due to bio-inert nature.To overcome the limitations and to accomplish the desired purpose, composite coatings consisting of bioactive are developed on the metallic biomaterials. In general bio-inert ceramics like yttria stabilized zirconia (ysz), titania, and alumina may be incorporated into hydroxyapatite (HA) matrix to develop composite coatings with improved mechanical properties over the years. The composite coatings developed by thermal spraying have shown promising approach to have good mechanical and biological properties in comparison with single-component and/or monolayer coatings. The strategy to use composite coatings is adopted widely by the professionals/scientists in the area of biomaterials for development and production of materials in order to repair and regeneration of the human tissue. In this article, commercially used thermal spraying techniques used for deposition of composite coatings for biomedical implants are discussed.