Thin Calcium Phosphate Coatings for Medical Implants

Calcium phosphate coatings produced by plasma spraying process have been successfully used on orthopaedic and dental implants for improvement of the fixation of these implants in bone. Thin calcium phosphate coatings formed by techniques other than plasma-spraying could be the successor of the current thick plasma-sprayed coating because of their improved properties. Like plasma-sprayed coatings, alternative calcium phosphate thin coatings are capable of conducting bone formation on their surfaces and forming a bond to newly formed bone. In addition, these thin calcium phosphate coatings have shown better adhesion to substrates and they are more stable in a biological environment due to uniform structure and composition. Moreover, some of these thin calcium phosphate coatings could be formed on numerous substrates including polymers and surfaces of complex geometries. This book presents for the first time, the scattered novel results that have been achieved in very recent years in study on various thin calcium phosphate coatings produced by very diverse techniques. The comparison of thin calcium phosphate coatings with the thick plasma-sprayed ones is also included in the book. Readers will find a comprehensive book reviewing the state of the art of the field with critical assessment of the achievements of the different preparation techniques. This information is considered very valuable for applications in industry. Emphasis is also put on the benefits of special characterization techniques for this type of thin coatings, which may be particularly useful to graduate students.