In the present work, silicon coating was deposited using air plasma spraying technology. The temperature and velocity of particles in the plasma spraying were measured. The phase composition and microstructure of the coating was studied. And some mechanical and thermal properties of the coating were evaluated.

Calcium oxide stabilized zirconia coatings have been deposited onto Ti-6Al-4V substrates by means of atmospheric plasma spraying and incubated in the simulated body fluid for different periods of time to investigate the formation of apatite on their surface. The phase composition and microstructure of the coatings before and after immersion were examined by scanning electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction. The results obtained showed that apatite can be formed on the coating soaked in SBF solution, which indicated that calcium oxide stabilized zirconia possessed good bioactivity.

Titanium/dicalcium silicate composite coatings with different ratios (weight ratios as Ca 2 SiO 4 : Ti = 3:7, 5:5, 7:3) were prepared by plasma spraying. Effects of titanium addition on coating properties, such as bonding strength, Young’s modulus and dissolution in simulated physiological environment, were studied. Results showed that the bonding strength between coating and Ti-6Al-4V substrate increased with increase of titanium content in the composite coatings. It was explained by the narrowed dissimilarity of thermal expansion coefficients between the coatings and substrates. Degradation of mechanical properties after immersion in simulated body fluid was also studied. The dissolution of dicalcium silicate in the composite coatings resulted in the decrease of bend strength and Young’s modulus of the coatings in the simulated physiological environment. The higher titanium content in the composite coatings, the stabler are the composite coatings in the physiological environment.

In this work, a TiO 2 coating with nanostructured surface was obtained through plasma sprayed nano-sized TiO 2 powder. Its bonding strength onto Ti-6Al-4V substrate is high up to 38 MPa. At same time, we have successfully improved the bioactivity of plasma sprayed TiO 2 coating with nanostructured surface using hydrogen ion implantation and UV illumination. Bone-like apatite can form on the surface of the post-treated TiO 2 coatings after they are soaked in simulated body fluid for a period of time. Introduction of surface bioactivity (bone conductivity) to plasma-sprayed TiO 2 coatings which are generally recognized to have excellent biocompatibility and corrosion resistance as well as high bonding to titanium alloys makes them more superior than many current biomedical coatings such as plasma-sprayed hydroxyapatite.

Recent developments in the field of plasma sprayed ceramic coatings at Shanghai Institute of Ceramics (SIC) are presented. Nano-titania and nano-tungsten carbide coatings were prepared. Their structure and properties were detected. The super hard B 4 C coating was deposited by APS. The physical and mechanical and anti-irradiation properties of B 4 C were measured. Wollastonite coating was deposited and its bioactivity has been tested. The results obtained indicated that (1) nano-titania coating possessed porous structure and unique electric properties; (2) nano-WC-Co coating exhibited notable wear resistance; (3) B 4 C coating was excellent irradiation resistance and (4) the carbonate-containing hydroxyapatite was formed on the surface of wollastonite coating, which indicated that this coating has excellent bioactivity.