Cladding of titanium/fluorapatite composites onto Ti6Al4V substrate and the in vitro behaviour in the simulated body fluid

Abstract To improve the bioactivity of Ti6Al4V alloy, an innovative cladding method has been developed to bond a Ti/fluorapatite (FA) composite onto the alloy for load-bearing applications. With the aid of a silver interlayer and external pressure during sintering, a defect-free interface between the composite and the substrate was obtained. The fabricated materials were bioactive and could induce the nucleation and formation of bone-like carbonated apatite after immersed in the simulated body fluid (SBF). Functional ions, such as Ag+ and F−, were released from the materials during immersion, which could impart favourable activities for the implant. This work demonstrated that a simple and novel method could be applied to enhance functionalities of Ti alloys for load-bearing implant applications.