Total hip prosthesis (THP) is the most success of the 20th century in orthopaedic biomedical engineering. However due to difficult conditions within the human body its durability is generally limited to 15-16 years. THP is a bio-tribosystem, on which many mechanical, thermal, chemical and biological factors act. This paper presents the results of an analysis regarding the topography and tribological parameters of femoral heads structures before and after TiN coating. We report on the synthesis of TiN thin films on steel substrates by pulsed laser deposition (PLD) method for improving the mechanical characteristics of the structures. Adhesion resistance of the coating on the sub-layer was evaluated by scratching tests accompanied by Optical Microscopy (OM), Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM). As a principal result, this work points out that TiN protective coatings deposited by PLD technique with the maximum number of pulses can represent an alternative technology to ensure adhesion and scratch resistance of TiN coatings on femoral heads.
