Studies on corrosion and wear behavior of submicrometric diamond coated Ti alloys

Implants made out of Ti alloys often fail due to their lower wear and corrosion resistance. In order to obviate this problem, submicrometric diamond films were grown on Ti-13Nb-13Zr and Ti-23Nb-0.7Ta-2Zr-O (Gum metal) using hot filament chemical vapor deposition technique. Deposited films were characterized using XRD, Raman, SEM, AFM and nanointender. The electrochemical corrosion and reciprocatory wear behavior of the coated samples were evaluated in simulated body fluid. The results demonstrate that corrosion and wear properties of the diamond coated Gum metal are far superior than Ti-13Nb-13Zr alloy, due to the presence of beta phase in the former alloy. © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.