Production of calcium phosphate coatings by laser ablation for biomedical applications

Abstract

Apatitic calcium phosphates are used as coatings to improve the fixation of orthopedic and dental implants. The commercial technique to produce these coatings (plasm-spray) shows some problems of adherence and control of their physicochemical properties. In this communication laser ablation is presented as a solution to overcome these problems. The ablation system consists in a vacuum chamber filled with water vapour up to the desired pressure. The laser beam of an ArF excimer laser is focused on a hydroxyapatite target, and the coating is deposited on a substrate parallel to the target maintained at certain temperature. The physicochemical properties of the material were analysed by Fourier transformed infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) X ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and energy dispersive X ray spectroscopy (EDX). Taking into account these results, two types of coatings were choosen to asses their biocompatibility in vitro.