Highly wear-resistant and biocompatible carbon nanocomposite coatings for dental implants

Diamond-like carbon coatings are increasingly used as wear-protective coatings for dental implants, artificial joints, etc. Despite their advantages, they may have several weak points such as high internal stress, poor adhesive properties or high sensitivity to ambient conditions. These weak points could be overcome in the case of a new carbon nanocomposite coating (CNC) deposited by using a C60 ion beam on a Co/Cr alloy. The structure of the coatings was investigated by Raman and XPS spectroscopy. The wear resistance was assessed by using a reciprocating tribotester under the loads up to 0.4 N in both dry and wet sliding conditions. Biocompatibility of the dental implants was tested in vivo on rabbits. Biocompatibility, bioactivity and mechanical durability of the CNC deposited on a Co/Cr alloy were investigated and compared with those of bulk Co/Cr and Ti alloys. The wear resistance of the CNC was found to be 250e650 fold higher compared to the Co/Cr and Ti alloys. Also, the CNC demonstrated much better biological properties with respect to formation of new tissues and absence of negative morphological parameters such as necrosis and demineralization. Development of the CNC is expected to aid in significant improvement of lifetime and quality of implants for dental applications

Self-Healing Phenomenon and Dynamic Hardness of C₆₀-Based Nanocomposite Coatings

The phenomenon of surface self-healing in C₆₀-based polymer coatings deposited by ion-beam assisted physical vapor deposition was investigated. Nanoindentation of the coatings led to the formation of a protrusion rather than an indent. This protrusion was accompanied by an abnormal shape of the force–distance curve, where the unloading curve lies above the loading curve due to an additional force applied in pulling the indenter out of the media. The coatings exhibited a nanocomposite structure that was strongly affected by the ratio of C₆₀ ion and C₆₀ molecular beam intensities during deposition. The coatings also demonstrated the dynamic hardness effect, where the effective value of the hardness depends significantly on the indentation speed