Pulsed plasma deposition of zirconia thin films on UHMWPE: proof of concept of a novel approach for joint prosthetic implants

Optimizing thickness of ceramic coatings on plastic components for orthopedic applications: A finite element analysis

“…During this characterization step, the mechanical properties of the coating resulted to be different from the typical elastic behavior of the zirconia bulk material used as target in the deposition process. This difference was mainly due to the changes revealed within the structural phases [7]. More specifically, a Young's modulus of 150 GPa, a Poisson's coefficient of 0.3 and an indentation hardness H it of 10,630.9 MPa were obtained.…”

“…More specifically, medical grade UHMWPE samples (Citieffe, Bologna, Italy; roughness Ra = 0.21 ± 0.05 μm) were coated with a zirconia layer by using the Pulsed Plasma Deposition (PPD) technique, according to the general procedure described by Bianchi et al [7,8,9]. The final coating thickness estimated by a Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) was about 0.75 μm.…”

“…Diamond-like carbon (DLC) coatings reported good tribological outcomes [5], but poor adhesion to the substrate, mainly due to large residual stresses deriving from the high-temperature deposition processes [6]. Hard zirconia (ZrO 2 ) thin films reported instead the capacity to reduce the elasto-plastic deformation of the plastic substrate under critical local loads and an excellent adhesion [7,8,9]. However, the mismatch in the mechanical characteristics between coatings and substrates seems to remain one of the main risk factors for the structure stability.…”

“…Looking for effective and off-the-shelf validation, FEA was specifically used to simulate two different testing conditions: a nanoindentation test with Berkovich tip and a microindentation test with Rockwell indenter, respectively. In general, nanoindentation is in fact essential in the characterization of the coating mechanical properties [23] and, further, this technique can be used also to mimic the high local loads produced on the coating by third-body effect [7,24]. On the other hand, the microindentation test with rounded tip has been specifically used in testing the adhesion of brittle films on ductile substrates [25,26] and could be used to more easily simulate physiological-like loading conditions.…”

Ceramic Thin Films Realized by Means of Pulsed Plasma Deposition Technique: Applications for Orthopedics

“…8,9 Recently, pulsed plasma deposition (PPD) has been emerging as a promising technique thanks to its advantages compared to conventional deposition methods. 10,11 The main goal of this work was to assess the potential tribological benefits of coating titanium substrates by means of yttria-stabilized zirconia (YSZ). To this aim, the tribological performance of the YSZ-coated titanium was tested against UHMWPE by using a pin-on-disc tribometer under dry and wet (i.e., bovine serum) conditions.…”