Influence of Processing Factors on the Surface Properties of Zirconia Coatings Fabricated by Room Temperature Spray Process
Highly roughened surfaces on dental implants enhance the bone-bonding ability and in vivo cell adhesion on the implant surface. In this study, zirconia substrates were coated by powder coating using room temperature spray processing to improve their surface properties. Processing factors (particle size of the starting powder, number of repetitions of the deposition cycle, and spraying distance) were controlled to form a dense coating layer with high surface roughness on the zirconia substrate. Starting zirconia powders for coating were heat-treated at high temperature to control the particle size and kinetic energy. The coating layer fabricated from starting powder with a particle size of about 1.52 μm shows a homogeneous and dense microstructure, and it has a maximum surface roughness about 0.37 μm. The surface roughness of the film coatings increased with the number of times that the deposition cycle was repeated. No phase changes between the starting powder and the coating layer were observed, and all of the materials show identical tetragonal phases.