Numerical evaluation of the structural integrity exhibited by a TiO2 thin solid film doped with au

Abstract

Some metal implants fail to generate natural bonding with living tissue. As a result, external fixation is required. Surface modification, with nanostructured coatings, has been used to improve their performance. The release of ions is limited and promotes the fixation of the implant to the tissues. In the field of biomechanics, gold nanoparticles exhibit good properties in some cases that are intrinsic to their nanometer size. Also, they have low toxicity and have a great potential for application in internal prostheses. In this paper, the mechanical behavior of the two coatings was studied with the Finite Element Method. The first was a TiO2 thin film and the other one was a TiO2 thin film doped with Au. Both coatings exhibited a thickness of approximately 250 nm. The objective of this analysis was to evaluate the structural integrity of each film. The stress field of each film was obtained. The hardness values were obtained. The film of TiO2 doped with Au showed the highest hardness.