Abstract

Successful application of titanium and its alloys in medicine is related to its promising behavior in trauma treatment due to biocompatibility and corrosion resistance. Titanium nitride (TiN) is regarded as a potential biomaterial for blood-contact applications. Titanium nitride thin layers were produced by pulsed laser deposition (PLD) performed with a Nd: YAG laser on two types of biomaterials, metallic titanium and polyurethane. The formation of a uniform smooth surface was observed in both cases. The application of scanning electron microscopy (SEM) in the examination of the material cross-section revealed a form of diffusion layer, with continuous transfer between the deposited film and the substrate. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) examinations of thin foils, prepared from a metallic titanium cross-section covered with TiN, confirmed the diffusive character of the deposited layer. Moreover, the deposited TiN phase was found to have a fine grained microstructure. Texture examinations were carried out for both deposited TiN and the titanium substrate. The application of the pseudo-position sensitive detector in texture examination allowed to draw the pole figures of residual stresses, while X-ray diffraction used for residual stress measurement (sin2Psi) made it possible to measure their values. The latter were found to fall for the TiN phase into the range between -8 and -10 GPa for films produced on the metallic titanium substrate, and -4 to -5 GPa for the polyurethane substrate. The morphology of the surface of the deposited layers was examined by means of atomic force microscopy (AFM). The results revealed a contribution of the deposition parameters and the layer thickness to crystallite sizes and vertical diameter.

Keywords: Deposition, Titanium Nitride, Biocompatibility