Using scratch testing to measure the adhesion strength of calcium phosphate coatings applied to poly(carbonate...

Bioactive coatings are applied to components of modern orthopædic implants to improve the host tissue response to the implants. Such coatings cannot be applied to polymeric implants by high-temperature techniques, because the use of high temperatures may critically degrade the polymer substrate. Regardless of the coating technique that is used, the coating must be sufficiently well adhered to the underlying substrate to provide any practical benefit. This paper investigates the use of scratch testing to measure the adhesion strength of calcium phosphate (CaP) coatings that were applied to a poly(carbonate urethane) (PCU) substrate by an aqueous process at temperatures of 19, 28, 37, and 50 °C. This work represents the first time that scratch testing analysis has been used to study CaP coatings deposited by an aqueous, low-temperature process on to a polymer substrate. Scratch testing was shown to be a useful technique for obtaining comparative, rather than absolute, values of adhesion strength for hard coatings formed on a compliant substrate. Generally, the coating temperature was not found to influence the CaP-PCU adhesion strength. Although CaP coatings formed at 19 °C exhibited considerably lower adhesion strengths than CaP coatings formed at 28, 37, and 50 °C, this finding was attributable to the inconsistency of CaP coatings formed on the PCU substrates at 19 °C. The coating-substrate adhesion strength was measured for CaP coatings of four different coating ages (0, 1, 2, and 3 years). CaP coatings that were aged for 0, 1, or 2 years exhibited similar coating-substrate adhesion strengths to each other. In contrast, CaP coatings that were aged for 3 years demonstrated considerably lower coating-substrate adhesion strengths. The observed reduction in adhesion strength with age was thought to be attributable to suspected "drying out" of the CaP coatings.