Deposition and characterization of nanostructured TiNb thin films on AISI 316L stainless steel surfaces

Abstract

Properties related to the increase in the durability of the implants and faster and more reliable biological responses are commonly exploited in different areas of scientific research. The physical and chemical phenomena that occur on the modified surface of the bone/implant interface determine the biological responses which follow the implantation of biomaterials and therefore are critical to the effectiveness of the process of osseointegration. This project aims at the study of an improved implant model that has been from traditional implant materials such as AISI 316L steel. In order to obtain a surface with a better resistance to corrosion and resistance to wear, besides non-cytotoxicity, it is intended to cover 316L steel with nanostructured TiNb thin films. Both titanium and niobium are elements that do not have cytotoxicity directly or indirectly with the cells and have high resistance to corrosion in physiological media. In order to increase the wear resistance, the films should have a high hardness, which is possible by means of the sputtering method, which allows to obtain coatings with hardness higher than that of conventional materials. Will be carried out chemical and morphology characterization, and corrosion resistance analysis. The characterization techniques employed are: X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), atomic force microscopy (AFM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) coupled with energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS), and electrochemical analysis. (AU)