Electrophoretic Deposition (EPD) of Natural Hydroxyapatite Coatings on Titanium Ti-29Nb-13Ta-4.6Zr Substrates for Implant Material

This study aims to investigate the effect of the electrophoretic deposition process (EPD) of natural HA (extracted from bovine bones) with various particle size on Ti-29Nb-13Ta-4.6Zr (TNTZ) coating surfaces. HA particles were refined from bovine bone powders using planetary ball mill and then sieving to separate the particle based on its size. The maximum size according to sieving mesh size is #25 µm, #63 µm and #125 µm. The coating process was conducted by using EPD apparatus with voltage and time process 10V and 5 minutes, respectively, for each sample. The coating layer morphology was observed with Stereo Microscopy, Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and the thickness was measured with Thickness Gauge. The result shows that the size of the particle determines the coating layer characteristics. The best of HA coating quality according to the implant coating standard is obtained for the 25 µm particle size with the surface coverage is 99%. The thickness is 121 µm and the ratio of chemical composition Calcium and Phosphor Ca/P) is 1,49%. These may be concluded that, on the point of view physical characteristics, natural HA from bovine bone has potential enough as a coating layer to improve the bioactivity implant for biomedical application. However, the mechanical characteristic of the layer is still needed to determine the strength of coating layer for avoiding delamination during application.