Bioactive glass–ceramic coated titanium implants prepared by electrophoretic deposition

Surface modification of Ti alloys towards an improved osteoinductive behaviour is one of the major challenges in orthopaedic implant technology nowadays. One way to achieve this is by applying a bioactive coating which can increase the rate of osseointegration and chemical bonding of surrounding bone to the implant. In the present work, the production of a bioactive glass–ceramic coating on flat Ti alloys by electrophoretic deposition is demonstrated. The coatings are applied by cathodic deposition from non-aqueous suspensions followed by sintering in vacuum, avoiding uncontrolled oxidation of the Ti substrates. The use of non-aqueous suspensions both allowed to reduce the deposition time and yielded homogeneous coatings with a uniform thickness of 8 μm. Evaluation of the coating adhesion confirmed the good mechanical performance of the coatings with a tensile bond strength of 41.0 ± 11.1 MPa. Additionally, a feasibility study demonstrated the potential of electrophoretic deposition as a coating technique for commercial complex implants.