Tribological Characterization of Surface Treatments to Enhance the Tribological Performances of Medical Grade Titanium

Titanium and its alloys are employed for many biomedical applications. One of the reasons of this success is related to the high biocompatibility of this material. As a matter of fact, its spontaneous capacity to create a passivation film of titanium oxide on the surface results in low amount of metal ions release in vivo and in a high resistance against corrosion. Moreover, the absence of Ni in its alloys represents an important issue in the evaluation of its biocompatibility, as compared to CoCrMo. As a matter of fact such an element is recognized as allergenic and cancerogenic agent. Nevertheless, the poor wear resistance of the Ti-oxide film keeps Ti from being employed in tribological applications. The present work investigates the possibility to apply surface treatments to the titanium in order to increase its wear resistance.

COTOGNO Giulio;  FRANCHI M.;  RIVETTI Stefania;  HOLZWARTH Uwe;  CHIESA R.; 

2007-01-11

Italian Biomaterials Society

JRC32334