Reza Samiee

Former Visiting PhD student (FunGlass – Alexander Dubček University of Trenčín, Slovakia).

Surface modification of NiTi alloy by coating composite layers intended for biomedical applications

 

Supervisor: Prof. Amirhossein Pakseresht

Supervisor in Erlangen: Prof. Aldo R. Boccaccini

The replacement of bone tissue for metallic implants has gained special interest in the last decades. However, there are implant that suffer corrosion, fatigue fracture, wear and incompatibility with host tissue, aspects that can be solved by superficial modification of the metallic substrates. Particularly, inorganic ceramic coatings such as hydroxyapatite have been widely employed to improve the surface biompatibility [1]. Nevertheless, the brittle nature and poor strength of HAp coatings are a problem, especially when the implant need to work under load-bearing conditions. Therefore, the incorporation of nanoparticles as secondary bioactive fillers should enhance their characteristics [2]. Thus, this work is aimed at the preparation of advanced nanomaterials with biological, mechanical, and anticorrosion effects which should then be incorporated in silicon substituted HAp coatings. The nanoparticles are expected to act as drug/ion release material to increase the bioactivity of the coating, and as barrier filler to hinder the accessibility of corrosive species to the NiTi alloy substrate. This project is part of the collaboration between the FAU Institute of Biomaterials and FunGlass Center at Alexander Dubček University of Trenčín, Slovakia, and it is funded by JECS Trust (European Ceramic Society).

[1] S. Awasthi, S. K. Pandey, E.  Arunan, & C.  Srivastava Journal of Materials Chemistry B, 2021, 9, 228-249.

[2] V. Khalili, J. Khalil-Allafi, W. Xia, A. B. Parsa, J. Frenzel, C.  Somsen, & G. Eggeler, Applied Surface Science, 2016, 366, 158-165.