from the conferences organized by TANGER Ltd.
Body implants are a necessary part of contemporary medicine. Biocompatibility and life-span are some of the most frequently controlled parameters of materials. One of the possible ways of ensuring these requirements is to modify the surface of the implant with a thin layer. TiCN thin films with differing compositions were deposited on AISI 316 surgical steel by the cathodic arc evaporation of pure Ti with various different gas ratios of N2 and C2H2. During the deposition process, the pressure in the vacuum chamber was 1.5 Pa and the deposition temperature was 400 °C. The thickness of the layer and the adhesion of the layer to the substrate were studied from the point of view of the possible use of the samples in medical applications. The deposition parameters affect the physicochemical properties (the chemical composition, roughness and surface energy), which have a subsequent impact on the attachment of cells. Application of TiCN thin layer also increases the risk of colonization by bacterial strains. Escherichia coli was used as the model bacterial strain. Colonization of the surface that is undesirable for these applications has been observed. This work presents the physicochemical properties of the individual TiCN thin layers and also evaluates the relationship between the surface properties and colonization of the surface by bacterial cells.
Keywords: TiCN thin layers, biocompatibility, bacterial population colonization, surface roughness© This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.