Morphological and tribological aspects of some ZrO₂ coatings on Mg-Ca biodegradable alloys

Abstract

The Mg-Ca biodegradable alloy system has been proposed as a potential new kind of degradable biomaterial with possible application within medical and orthopedic field. These alloys are biocompatible with human organism being abase component for many enzymes. Magnesium based alloys releases biodegradable corrosion products during degradation process and are suitable for tissue regeneration in the human body. For biodegradation and biocompatibility improvement and some mechanical characteristics as strength and Young modulus were performed ceramic coatings on the metallic base material. The aim of this study is to characterize from the point of view of microstructural and mechanical properties like scratch and micro-indentation analysis some ZrO₂-CaO and ZrO₂-Y₂O₃ coatings with similar thickness deposited using an atmospheric plasma spraying facility. Morphological and microstructural evaluation is studied using SEM and XRD analysis. For mechanical characteristics, coatings are supposed to comparative analysis of microindentation and scratch analysis in order to study the adhesion properties between the coatings and the substrates.