Development of a titanium alloy suitable for an optimized coating with hydroxyapatite.

By means of the metallurgical method of alloying, the thermal expansion coefficient of commercially pure titanium was adapted to that of hydroxyapatite (HA) in order to produce a tailored composite material with a maximum adhesion strength of HA to the metallic material. The alloying element chosen was manganese, which is an important trace element in the human organism. With the alloy TiMn6 a good compromise concerning the expansion coefficient, the mechanical properties and the biocompatible behaviour was found. With this alloy coatings with an extremely high adhesion strength could be produced, especially when the sol-gel process was used for HA precipitation. In addition, these layers fulfil the requirements of favourable thin coatings according to theoretical considerations.