Adhesion, biological corrosion resistance and biotribological properties of carbon films deposited on MAO coated Ti substrates.

A thin diamond-like carbon (DLC) film, a graphite-like carbon (GLC) film and a thick diamond-like carbon (PE-DLC) film are deposited on the micro arc oxidation (MAO) coated pure titanium substrates using a hybrid ion beam deposition system, magnetron sputtering and plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition, respectively. The microstructure, adhesion, biological corrosion resistance and biotribological properties were determined. The results showed that the three duplex coatings presented uneven surface features and increased binding force. The binding force of the duplex coatings was strongly affected by the bonding strength between the MAO coating and Ti substrate. Although the roughness Ra of the three duplex coatings was high, their friction coefficients were small (under 0.22) in the SBF solution. The MAO/DLC and MAO/GLC coatings showed an excellent tribological behavior and corrosion resistance in the SBF solution.