[An investigation of HAP/organic polymer composite coatings prepared by electrochemical co-deposition technique]

An electrochemical co-deposition technique has been developed to prepare a hydroxyapatite (HAP)/organic polymer composite coatings on Ti surface as new biomaterial of hard tissue. The composite coating of organic polymer and calcium phosphate is formed by adding a water soluble polymer of the ethylene series to NH4H2PO4-Ca (NO3)2 solution when conducting an appropriate electrochemical co-deposition experiment. The XRD, SEM, XPS, SIMS and nano indent measurements were performed to characterize the morphology, composition, structure and surface stiffness of the composite coating. It was found that the morphology and surface hardness of the coatings showed a remarkable modification when introducing a minor polymer to HAP coating, and the bonding force between the coating and metal substrate was distinctly increased. The incorporation of minor organic polymer into the HAP compound at molecular level will improve the mechanical properties and morphology of the composite coatings, and this may be helpful to raising its bio-activity.