Novel fluorapatite/niobium composite coating for metallic human body implants

This study's aim was to design and prepare a novel composite coating in order to improve the biocompatibility of the metallic implants. AISI 316L stainless steel (SS) was used as a substrate and a filler-matrix fluorapatite/niobium (FA/Nb) composite coating was performed on the substrate by using plasma-spray technique. XRD and SEM analyses were utilized to characterize the coatings. Electrochemical polarization tests were carried out in two types of physiological solutions in order to evaluate the corrosion behavior of the coated specimens as an indication of biocompatibility. The results indicated that the corrosion current density of the FA/Nb coated samples was much lower than the obtained values for the FA coated SS substrates. Obviously, the novel FA/Nb composite coating could improve the corrosion resistance and the biocompatibility of the SS implants.