ABSTRACT
Corrosion and biocompatibility have shown to be two of the biggest considerations for human body implants. Thin coatings have shown to improve corrosive resistance, with recent developments creating bioactive coatings that actively work with the biological system after they are implanted. These coatings can form strong interactions with surrounding tissue due to their surface reactivity resulting in an osseoconductive or osseoproductive response. Hydroxyapatite (HAp) is one of the most common bioactive coatings used for implants into bone tissue. The application HAp is completed by a variety of methods with plasma spraying being widely used. Recent coatings using HAp have also incorporated metals such as titania, improving the bioactive response, reducing crack formation growth and thermal expansion mismatching, all reducing the chance of failure.
The future of bioactive coatings shows the potential for enhanced bioactive properties with improved life-time before failure.
