Thin Calcium Phosphate Coatings for Medical Implants (Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology (567))

Thin calcium phosphate coatings of about 10 μm or less can improve the bone response in orthopedic and dental implants by overcoming the drawbacks of commercially successful, thick plasma-sprayed coatings. These alternative coatings have shown better adhesion to a variety of substrates and, because of their uniformity in structure and composition, greater stability in the biological environment. __Thin Calcium Phosphate Coatings for Medical Implants__ presents a comprehensive, state-of-the-art review of the preparation, physico-chemical properties, and __in vitro__ and __in vivo__ performance of these bioactive coatings, including comparisons with thick plasma-sprayed techniques. Emphasis is also placed on the benefits of special characterization techniques for this type of thin coating. This book is an essential resource not only for biomaterials researchers and their students, but also for engineers in the design, development, and manufacture of medical implants.

Calcium phosphate coatings produced by plasma spraying process have been successfully used on orthopaedic and dental implants for improvement of the fixation of these implants in bone. Thin calcium phosphate coatings formed by techniques other than plasma-spraying could be the successor of the current thick plasma-sprayed coating because of their improved properties. Like plasma-sprayed coatings, alternative calcium phosphate thin coatings are capable of conducting bone formation on their surfaces and forming a bond to newly formed bone. In addition, these thin calcium phosphate coatings have shown better adhesion to substrates and they are more stable in a biological environment due to uniform structure and composition. Moreover, some of these thin calcium phosphate coatings could be formed on numerous substrates including polymers and surfaces of complex geometries.

This book presents for the first time, the scattered novel results that have been achieved in very recent years in study on various thin calcium phosphate coatings produced by very diverse techniques. The comparison of thin calcium phosphate coatings with the thick plasma-sprayed ones is also included in the book. Readers will find a comprehensive book reviewing the state of the art of the field with critical assessment of the achievements of the different preparation techniques. This information is considered very valuable for applications in industry.

Emphasis is also put on the benefits of special characterization techniques for this type of thin coatings, which may be particularly useful to graduate students.

Calcium phosphate coatings ( 50 mm thick), especially those made with hyd- xyapatite (HA), produced by the plasma-spraying process have been succe- fully used on orthopedic and dental implants to improve fixation of these implants in bone. Thin calcium phosphate coatings ( 10mm thick) formed by various techniques other than plasma spraying may be the successor of the current thick plasma-sprayed coatings because of their improved properties. Like plasma-sprayed HA coatings, these alternative calcium phosphate thin coatings are capable of enabling bone formation on their surfaces and forming a bond with the newly formed bone. In addition, the thin calcium phosphate coatings have shown better adhesion to substrates and are more stable in the biological environment because they have more uniform structure and com- sition than plasma-sprayed HA coatings. Moreover, some of these thin calcium phosphate coatings can be formed on all kinds of substrates including polymers and on the entire surfaces of complex geometries such as porous surfaces. Front Matter....Pages i-xvi Introduction....Pages 1-8 Physicochemistry of Apatite and Its Related Calcium Phosphates....Pages 19-21 Characterization of Thin Calcium Phosphate Coating....Pages 25-66 In Vitro and In Vivo Evaluation of Thin Calcium Phosphate Coatings....Pages 67-99 Pulsed Laser Deposition of Thin Calcium Phosphate Coatings....Pages 101-155 Ion Beam Techniques for Thin Calcium Phosphate Coating Production....Pages 157-174 Calcium Phosphate Coating Produced by a Sputter Deposition Process....Pages 175-198 Silicon-Substituted Hydroxyapatite Thin Films....Pages 199-214 Electrochemically Assisted Deposition of Thin CaP Coatings....Pages 215-261 Electrosprayed Calcium Phosphate Coating for Biomedical Purposes....Pages 263-300 Biomimetic Coatings and Their Biological Functionalization....Pages 301-314 Back Matter....Pages 317-326