Differential Analyses of Naturally Prepared and Synthetic CaCO3/SiO2 Composite Implant Coating Material: an in vitro Study

This study aims to present the evolvement and characterization of two innovative bioactive coating composite materials overlying Yttria-stabilized tetragonal zirconia substrate. The differential analyses between artificial CaCO3/SiO2 and novel natural prepared CaCO3/SiO2 composite implant-coating material. The methodology of the present study involved forty disc-shaped specimens with a dimension of 10 mm, and twenty disc-shaped samples with 50 mm diameter were prepared from partially sintered Yttria-stabilized tetragonal zirconia polycrystal. The naturally prepared composite was deposited via radio frequency reactive magnetron sputtering. The experimental specimens were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), field emission scanning electron microscope (FE-SEM), energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS), X-ray fluorescence (XRF), and atomic force microscope (AFM). A wettability test was conducted using the mean of contact angle measurement. Pull-off tests were also performed to assess the adhesion strength between zirconia substrate and the experimental coating materials.  According to the outcomes of the present study, we concluded that the naturally prepared CaCO3/SiO2 composite exhibits more hydrophilicity with an improvement in the adhesion force to the zirconia substrate compared to the artificial CaCO3/SiO2 composite. Therefore, it can be used as a coating material for zirconia implants with promising biological and mechanical properties.