Sol-derived hydroxyapatite Ddip-coating of a porous Ti6Al4V powder compact

Abstract

A sintered porous Ti6Al4V powder compact with a mean pore size of 63 µm and an average porosity of 37±1% was dip-coated at soaking times varying between 1- and 5-minute using a sol-derived calcium Hydrooxyapatite (HA) powder. The coated compacts were heat-treated at 840 °C. The coating thickness was found to increase with increasing soaking time, from 1.87 µm at 1-minute soaking to 9 µm at 5-minute soaking on the average. It was shown that at increasing soaking times, the originally open pores started to close, while at low soaking times the Ti6Al4V particles were partially coated. The coating layer was shown to be nano porous and the depth of coating was observed to be relatively shallow: only few particles near the compact surface were HA-coated.