Hybrid enrichment of Ti13Nb13Zr alloy with zinc ions and silver nanoparticles using a combination of micro-arc oxidation and electrophoretic deposition

A double-coated Ti13Nb13Zr alloy was created by arc micro-oxidation (MAO) and subsequent electrophoretic deposition (EPD). The MAO ceramic was enriched with zinc ions, while the EPD-deposited chitosan coating contained silver nanoparticles. Both elements are important for the potential medical applications of the carved base material. To investigate the effects of the modification, morphological imaging by SEM, and spectroscopy analysis like EDS, XPS, and FTIR were performed. In addition, surface roughness, immersion, and wettability tests were carried out. Fabricated samples were also subjected to porosity, microhardness, and corrosion examination. The tests indicated that the MAO modifications carried out yielded a ceramic layer free of defects, while the most porous layer was found to be the one with a processing time of 10 min (MAO10). EPD coatings allowed the MAO pores to be covered, which did not reduce the surface roughness. Chemical bonding and composition studies confirmed the presence of Zn and Ag ions for each of the MAO and MAO_EPD modifications, with the XPS study showing these elements to be in oxide form. Roughness tests showed that the presence of the EPD coating generates increased standard deviations, which may be indicative of an irregular modified area, while a wetting test showed that each modified surface is hydrophilic and the MAO_EPD samples exhibit higher contact angle values than the single MAO modification. Corrosion resistance tests did not reveal a significant improvement compared to the native material; however, the obtained values are satisfactory for medical applications. All E_corr values remained in the nanoampere per square centimeter range-for example, Ref. Ecorr: -0.263 ± 0.01 V; MAO10_EPD Ecorr: -0.012 ± 0.001 V. No substantial differences were observed between the various surface modification groups. The proposed modifications are promising in terms of apatite crystallization capacity. The primary biomedical application is expected to be in orthopedic implants.