G. Heinrich et al., CVD DIAMOND-COATED TITANIUM-ALLOYS FOR BIOMEDICAL AND AEROSPACE APPLICATIONS, Surface & coatings technology, 94-5(1-3), 1997, pp. 514-520
The titanium alloys Ti-6Al-4V and Ti-6Al-7Nb, which are commonly used
in aerospace and biomedical applications, were coated with diamond fil
ms using a Microwave-Plasma-CVD process. The internal compressive stre
sses of these films may reach -8 GPa, strongly depending on the substr
ate temperature during deposition, The stresses can be effectively low
ered by grit-blasting of the substrates prior to deposition to values
of -2 GPa. This measure is expected to improve the adhesion of the dia
mond coatings even further. The solid particle erosion of diamond thin
films on Ti-6Al-4V substrates grown with various methane concentratio
ns in the process gas was compared with a commercial TiAlN PVD hard co
ating, Under an incidence angle of 90 degrees, a superior erosion resi
stance of diamond coatings with 4% and 8% methane was demonstrated. Th
e biocompatibility of diamond films was tested in vitro using the huma
n osteoblastic cell line hFOB 1.19. The performance of the coatings wa
s comparable to that of pure titanium, i.e. diamond coatings are very
suitable for medical applications. Retarded cell proliferation as obse
rved in some cases is attributed to the high surface roughness due to
grit-blasting and the hydrophobic character of the diamond films. (C)
1997 Elsevier Science S.A.