Comparison of tribological behaviour and biocompatibility of Ti₆Al₄V alloy after ion implantation or thermal oxidation

This paper describes improvements of the tribological properties and the biocompatibility of Ti₆Al4V alloy implanted by oxygen plasma immersion (PIII) in comparison with other treatments like thermal oxidation, conventional beamline ion implantation (II) of nitrogen and a combination of both thermal oxidation and II of nitrogen.

Ball‐on‐disc friction and wear tests were performed to investigate the modifications introduced for each treatment. Biocompatibility tests were carried out by controlling Al and V ion migration in a Hank's solution simulating the human body fluid. The reported results indicate that PIII provide a promising method to improve the characteristics of the Ti₆Al₄V alloy to be used in human body implants. (© 2008 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)