Biphasic calcium phosphate coating on cobalt-base surgical alloy during investment casting

The biphasic calcium phosphate (BCP) yields higher bioactivity and efficiency than the Hydroxyapatite (HA) alone. The HA/β-TCP ratio significantly affects BCP bioactivity as well as the extent of BCP resorption. In this study, the BCP coating on ASTM F-75 cobalt base alloy during the investment casting process was investigated. For this purpose, molten metal was poured at 1,470°C into previously coated investment molds preheated to 750, 850, 950, 1,050°C in order to investigate the effect of mold preheating temperatures on coating phase transformations. For in vitro evaluation, samples were immersed in the simulated body fluid (SBF) at 37°C for 4 weeks and characterized by XRD, SEM, EDS, and optical microscopy. The weight percentages of HA and β-TCP of the specimens were calculated to find that the HA/β-TCP ratio significantly depended on the mold preheating temperature as it caused changes in the dissolution behavior of BCP coating and the bone-like apatite precipitation on coating during in vitro evaluation.