Characterization of Micro-nanostructured Thin Layers Used to Increase the Lifetime of Hip Prosthesis Components

The main objective of the project described in this article was to evaluate and improve the operational capability of prostheses components coated with micro-nanostructured thin layers that were deposited by physical processes. The micro-nanostructured thin layers of TiN and TiO2 were characterized from tribological and technical-functional point of view on disk samples and real prostheses components. After determining the hardness, elastic modulus, friction coefficient and wear rate of these thin layers, with thicknesses of 0.5 µm, 1 µm and 1.5 µm, deposited on CoCr and M30NW steel substrates by the Cathodic Arc (CA), Direct Current (DC) sputtering and High-Power Impulse Magnetron Sputtering (HiPIMS) methods, it was concluded that the layers with a thickness of 1.5 μm, deposited using the DC sputtering method, have superior mechanical properties. TiN and TiO2 layers with a thickness of 1.5 μm were technically and functionally characterized on hip prostheses and it was demonstrated that the use of these layers increases the resistance to fatigue wear of the hip prostheses components. The main conclusion of these researches and the comparative analysis was that the TiN layer with a thickness of 1.5 μm, deposited by DC sputtering on both substrates has a superior resistance to fatigue wear compared to the TiO2 layer.