Mechanical study of novel VPS-titanium coating on polyethylene substrates

Abstract : Thick metallic or ceramic functional coatings onto polymers are of great interest for different domains such as the aerospace and medical industries. A vacuum plasma spray process has been developed to produce coatings on high- and low-temperature melting polymers including PEEK and polyethylene. This study reports the first experimental characterization of the strength and adherence of such titanium coatings on medical grade polyethylene substrates. Four-point bending coupled to microscopic observations show the existence of a critical tensile strain of 1% corresponding to the onset of cracking in the coating. For strains up to 6%, the crack density increases without any noticeable debonding. Fatigue tests over 106 cycles reveal that under this critical strain the coating remains uncracked while above it, the cracks number and size remain stable with no noticeable coating detachment. A protocol for laser shock adhesion testing (LASAT®) was developed to characterize the coating-substrate adhesion and captured the existence of a debonding threshold. These results provide quantitative guides for the design of orthopedic implants for which such a titanium coating is used to enhance anchorage to bone tissues. More generally, they open the way for systematic measurements quantifying the adhesion of metallic coating onto polymer substrates.