The coating of metallic alloys with bioactive ceramics aims to accelerate bone formation around the implant, contributing to its fixation. In this paper, the deposition of hydroxyapatite ceramic on Ti-6Al-4V alloy sheets by the sol-gel method was studied. The coating layer was characterized by scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction and its adhesion to substrate was evaluated by shear testing. The citocompatibility test shows that the sol-gel coating did not provoke the cell death significantly higher than the control (p > 0.05). Moreover, femoral stems removed from patient (explants) were adequately coated using the sol-gel process.
ceramics; hydroxyapatite; sol-gel; biomaterials; "in vitro" tests; cytotoxicity
