MEDICAL APPLICATIONS
  • Superior Wear Resistance
  • High Hardness
  • Outstanding Adhesion
  • Reduced Friction

PVD coatings are biocompatible, which makes them acceptable for use with external and internal medical devices that come into contact with bone, skin, tissue or blood.



Biocompatible Materials

Coating
Color
TiN
AlTiN
ZrN
Tetrahedral DLC
CrN
Amorphous DLC
TiAlN
Deep
Gold
Gray/Black
White Gold
Black
Silver
Black
Bronze


P.V.D. Coating Properties

  • A variety of PVD coatings have been certified to be biocompatible including titanium nitride (TiN), zirconium nitride (ZrN), chromium nitride (CrN), titanium aluminum nitride (TiAIN), aluminum titanium nitride (AITiN), amorphous diamond-like carbon (DLC) and tetrahedral amorphous carbon.
  • Biocompatibility tests were conducted in accordance with ISO 10993-1 guidelines for materials which experience short term body contact. The results (Table 1) indicate that these coatings are acceptable for external and internal medical devices that come into contact with bone, skin, tissue or blood.


Table1: Biocompatibility Results

Cytotoxicity
No evidence of causing cell lysis or toxicity.
Acute Systemic Toxicity, T12
No systemic toxicity or mortality.
Intracutaneous Toxicity, T13
No evidence of significant irritation or toxicity in rabbits.
Genotoxicity
Not mutagenic.
USP Muscle Implantation, T14
Non-irritating to muscle tissue.
Hemolysis
Nonhemolytic, compatible with blood.
Tests performed per ISO 10993-1 at NAMSA. TiN, ZrN, CrN, TiAIN, AITiN, DLC and tetrahedral amorphous carbon coatings.