Electrophoretic deposition of polyetheretherketone (PEEK) and PEEK/Bioglass® coatings on NiTi shape memory alloy wires

Polyetheretherketone (PEEK) and PEEK/Bioglass® coatings were produced on shape memory alloy (NiTi, Nitinol®) wires using electrophoretic deposition (EPD). Best results were achieved with suspensions of PEEK powders in ethanol in the range (1–6 wt%), using a deposition time of 5 minutes and applied voltage of 20 Volts. EPD using these parameters led to high quality PEEK coatings with a homogeneous microstructure along the wire length and a uniform thickness of up to 15 μm without development of cracks or the presence of large voids. Suspensions of PEEK powders in ethanol with addition of Bioglass® particles (0.5–2 wt%) (size < 5 μm) were used to produce PEEK/Bioglass® coatings. Sintering was carried out as a post EPD process in order to densify the coatings and to improve the adhesion of the coatings to the substrate. The sintering temperature was 340 °C, sintering time 20 min and heating rate 300 °C/h. Sintering led to uniform and dense PEEK and PEEK/Bioglass® coatings without any cracks. The bioactive behaviour of PEEK/Bioglass® composite coatings was investigated by immersion in acellular simulated body fluid (SBF) for up to two weeks. As expected, hydroxyapatite crystals formed on the surface of the coated wires after 1 week in SBF, confirming the bioactive character of the coatings. The results have demonstrated for the first time that EPD is a very convenient method to obtain homogeneous and uniform bioactive PEEK and PEEK/Bioglass® coatings on Nitinol® wires for biomedical applications.