Elsevier

Ceramics International

Volume 47, Issue 3, 1 February 2021, Pages 3031-3053
Ceramics International

Review article
RF-magnetron sputter deposited hydroxyapatite-based composite & multilayer coatings: A systematic review from mechanical, corrosion, and biological points of view

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ceramint.2020.09.274Get rights and content

Abstract

Till date, a variety of efforts have been made to develop the essential properties of hydroxyapatite as the most promising bioactive ceramic used in a broad spectrum of clinical applications from bone-tissue engineering to the bio-coatings applied on the implants. Radio frequency magnetron sputtering provides multiple advantages including high efficiency, favorable bonding strength, and controllable properties, therefore an increasing tendency has been emerged for exploiting its benefits in fabrication of HAp bio-coatings. The present review strives to systematically address all of the reported results in the field of RFMS'ed HAp-based composite and multilayer bio-coatings with putting the stress on drawing a clear correlation between the assessed variables, e.g. chemical composition and content of reinforcing phase(s) and interlayer(s), operating conditions, pre/post treatments, and the final characteristics of the bio-coatings. The facing challenges and future horizons of these systems are also treated in detail.

Introduction

The family of calcium phosphate (CaP) materials, mainly including hydroxyapatite (HAp) and tricalcium phosphates (α and β-TCP) have been extensively employed in bio-related applications, particularly thanks to their high biocompatibility and bioactivity [[1], [2], [3], [4], [5], [6], [7], [8], [9], [10], [11]].

Hydroxyapatite (Ca10(PO4)6OH2) with Ca/P ratio of 1.67, possesses the most similar chemical composition to the human bone. It was believed that HAp can be a promising material to fabricate both bulk ceramics implant and/or thin film bioactive coating [[12], [13], [14], [15], [16], [17]]. However, the applications of HAp in the bulk form has been greatly restricted owing to its brittle nature. On the other hand, the HAp-coated metallic implants have received increasing attention, and progressively developed since they simultaneously take the advantageous of metallic implant strength and bioactivity of HAp [[18], [19], [20], [21], [22]].

To date, a wide spectrum of practical techniques including electrochemical deposition [20,[23], [24], [25], [26], [27], [28], [29]], biomimetic deposition [30], sol-gel [31,32], plasma-spraying [33], RF magnetron sputtering [[34], [35], [36], [37], [38], [39], [40]], micro-arc oxidation [[41], [42], [43]], pulsed laser deposition [44,45], and etc. have been developed to prepare biocompatible and bioactive coatings, particularly HAp on the surface of implants. However, the RF magnetron sputtering bears several advantageous such as high efficiency, great control over uniformity and thickness of the film, strong adherence of film to the substrate, fabrication of dense and compact films, possibility to work at low temperatures, deposition of insulating films, possibility to deposit films on the heat-sensitive implants, and automatization ability over the others [[46], [47], [48], [49], [50]]. The flaws and drawbacks of this method majorly includes high cost, low deposition rate, and being line-of-sight technique that should be also taken into account. As a general note, before industrialization of a given technique in bio-related applications, there is a requirement for in-depth R&D to evaluate its pros and cons [[51], [52], [53], [54], [55]].

In spite of the fact that the overall characteristics of pure HAp coatings have been studied for more than several decades, the clinical use of theses coatings has not been as much addressed. The main reasons are connected with the insufficient knowledge on the in vivo behavior of these coatings after implantation procedure [56,57].

Recently, the attempts have been made to use HAp-coated implants in total hip arthroplasty (THA) and dental implants [57]. This served as a driving force for further studies to significantly improve the overall properties of the pure HAp. Till date, several efforts such as incorporation of reinforcing phases, introduction of buffer layers, controlling deposition parameters, application of pre/post treatments, and etc. have been suggested to overcome the challenges and shortages of pure HAp. By surveying the literature, it is not difficult to find experimental and review papers on the HAp-based composite coatings fabricated by various methods [31,38,[57], [58], [59], [60], [61], [62], [63], [64]].

However, to the best of our knowledge, there is no extended overview addressing the material-property relationships regarding in vitro and in vivo trials in the case of the composite and multilayer HAp-based coatings produced by RF magnetron sputtering. Following from the gap in the literature, the main purpose of this systematic review paper is to overview the most-promising strategies proposed for improve the final performance of RFMS'ed pure HAp coatings, i.e. incorporation of appropriate metallic and ceramic phases as well as application of favorable interlayer(s). The focus has been also put on drawing a meaningful relation between the parameters involved in fabrication of RFMS'ed HAp composite & multilayer coatings and their mechanical, electrochemical, and biological performance. The present review reveals the weak points and current perspectives of published papers so far, as well as suggests roadmaps for future research in this scope.

Section snippets

General aspects of RF magnetron sputtering

In general, magnetron sputtering (MS) is a rapid vacuum method that falls under the classification of physical vapor deposition (PVD) method. A typical magnetron sputtering coating device is composed of substrate holder, target, power supplier, vacuum pump, working gas, electric coils, magnets, and cooling water. The magnetron sputtering coating device makes it possible to grow films composed of pure metals, alloys, and compounds with thickness up to 5 μm. The power supply in this machine can

Background

Based on a generally agreed definition of composites, they are described as “materials fabricated by combining constituent materials having different properties and shapes to realize new properties which each constituent does not have by itself” [67]. In other words, the goal behind the preparation of a composite material is taking the full advantages of both matrix and reinforcements. In the case HAp-containing composite deposits, while HAp matrix possess spectacular biocompatibility and

Background

Generally, the different thermal expansion coefficients of the pure HAp bio-coating and most of the implants, in particular Ti and Ti alloys, has become a great challenge in the biomedical applications to be overcome. This issue may negatively affect the mechanical, corrosion, and biological performance of the bio-coatings. Several practical strategies including the application of interlayer(s) have been suggested to meet this priority, as it can drastically diminish the thermal expansion

Conclusions, challenges, and future perspectives

This systematic review considers attempts to illustrate the overall properties of RFMS'ed bioactive HAp-based composite and multilayer coatings. The practically employed approaches for producing such a coating system as well as their most important advantages and limitations are revealed. The correlation between the incorporated reinforcing phase(s) and interlayer(s), and physicochemical, mechanical, corrosion, and biological performance are comprehensively discussed. Based on the overviewed

Declaration of competing interest

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Acknowledgements

JK-A and MSS would like to acknowledge the financial support from the vice chancellor for research of Sahand University of Technology.

RAS and MAS acknowledge the support of Tomsk Polytechnic University within the framework of the Tomsk Polytechnic University Competitiveness Enhancement Programme grant, Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation (State Project “Science” №WSWW-2020-0011).

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