Improvement in adhesion of HAP deposited on alumina after Ar+ ions implantation and its physiochemical properties

Abstract To improve adhesive property of hydroxyapatite (HAP) thin film deposited on alumina using sol-gel technique, Ar ion implantation was carried out in such a way that maximum collisional energy is deposited at the interface. Ion dose was varied from 5×1014 ions/cm2 to 1×1016 ions/cm2. Surface analysis was carried out using scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Compound formation was determined by x-ray diffraction (XRD). Corrosion analysis was carried out using electrochemical analyzer (ECA). Grain size was measured using atomic force microscopy (AFM) and XRD. The grain size was 7.05μm, 4.49μm, 2.58μm, 6.76μm, and 7.80μm for the unimplanted, and implanted samples with ion dose 5×1014 ions/cm2, 1×1015 ions/cm2, 5×1015 ions/cm2, and 1×1016 ions/cm2 respectively. Nanohardness after the irradiation increased from 12.48Gpa to 28.05 GPa. Scratch test was used to study the adhesion of the film. Bond strength was also found to increase after irradiation from 2.82N to 3.87N. Hall-Petch relation is verified for this system. The sample having best adhesion and hardness w. r. t. ion dose is reported in this paper.