2001 Volume 17 Number 3
A publication of the Institute of Materials
Laserapatite - thin coating for medical implants
In implant surgery early failings of non-cemented implants due to malfunctioning
porous coatings can cause serious problems.
Hydroxylapatite (HA) or other porous coatings often suffer from poor adhesion.
The same problem also occurs in other industrial fields using thin ceramics
coatings on metallic materials.
Erothitan Titanimplantate AG has addressed this problem by developing improved
HA powders and a new technology to improve the adhesion with the substrate
for dental and orthopedical implants.
The implants are coated using pulsed laser deposition with an excimer laser,
which forms Laserapatite when applied to the HA powder in a vacuum chamber
containing AR gas. This allows thin layers (1 - 3 µm) to be applied to
titanium implants as well as other metals, ceramics and polished surfaces.
Advantages of this method include the ability to coat delicate components
without the burning associated with plasma spray coating, the increased adhesion
strength of the coating, and the smooth homogeneous coating obtained.
Medical implants coated with Laserapatite are currently undergoing trials
in the US and Europe and Erothitan plans to offer a contract coating service
or to license the technology to interested parties, as well as using it to
coat its own line of implants.
Further information from: Erothitan Titanimplantate AG, Auenstraße 3-5, 98529
Suhl, Germany, tel. 49-3681-456986, fax +49-3681-456988, Internet
www.erothitan.com.
