Mechanical properties of biocompatible titania layers produced in an aerosol-gel reactor

Abstract

The present work deals with the formation of titania coatings depending on the parameters of an aerosol-gel reactor. It has been found that the mechanical properties of the films can be taylored by selecting the degree of drying and condensation of the precursor solution. To show it, the plastic deformation energy has been calculated from dynamic uniaxial tests over coatings formed at different temperatures. Furthermore, the values of hardness and elastic modulus of the coatings have been obtained from loading-unloading indentation cycles. Clearly different values were obtained for each coating and an increase of the above mentioned magnitudes was observed for the coatings prepared at higher sintering temperatures.