Journal of Undergraduate Materials Research

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Biocompatibility and Hardness of Ti-Hf and Diamond-like Carbon Coatings for Orthopedics
Kuhn, Stephanie (Virginia Tech Department of Materials Science and Engineering, 2008-03-20)
Every year, about 300,000 total hip replacement (THR) surgeries are performed in the United States.The typical lifespan of an implant ranges between 10 and 20 years, with implant failures largely due to materials issues such as biocompatibility, wear, corrosion, and premature stress failures.The objective of this research is to examine the feasibility of using a new class of materials, namely Ti-Hf alloys and low friction diamond-like carbon (DLC) coatings, for improving the performance of orthopedic devices.Biocompatibility and hardness tests were performed, which showed Hf did not adversely affect the biocompatibility of Ti and that the DLC coating did not adversely affect the biocompatibility of the Ti-Hf alloy.Furthermore, the biocompatibility of the Ti-Hf alloy was comparable to that of Ti-6Al-4V.The research was done as a collaborative effort between the College of Engineering and the School of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Wisconsin – Madison and NASA Glenn, Cleveland, OH.