Electrophoretic Deposition of Nano Hydroxyapatite Particles Synthesized by Microemulsion and Purified by Foaming Techniques on Ti6Al4V Substrates

Hydroxyapatite (HAp) nanopowders, a biocompatible material, were synthesized by microemulsion method and coated on Ti6Al4V substrates by electrophoretic deposition (EPD) technique. Excess SDS was found to be coated during EPD as well and affecting posited on coating morphology adversely. Therefore, synthesized nano-hydroxyapatite particle suspension was purified by foaming technique achieved by rapid mixing to remove excess Sodium Dodecyl Sulfate (SDS) surfactant. Nano HAp particles were coated electrophoretically on Ti6Al4V substrate in deionized water using DC power supply at electric fields of 30 and 60 V/cm and coating durations of 5, 10 and 20 minutes. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) investigation showed that synthesized nano HAp particles had particle size below 200 nm. Powder X-Ray Diffraction analysis illustrated that synthesized nano HAp particles had mainly hexagonal crystal structure and crystallite size of 11.54 nm based on Debye Scherrer calculation. Both powder XRD and SEM energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) analyses proved that foaming was effective for removal of excess SDS surfactant from suspension. EPD study also showed that nano HAp particles that were removed from excess surfactant by foaming could be deposited on Ti6Al4V substrates more effectively with better coating morphologies.