Surface Nanostructuring of Metallic
Materials for Implant Applications
T. Balusamy, T. S. N. Sankara Narayanan, and Hyung Wook Park
Abstract Nanostructured metallic materials are progressively investigated for
numerous biomedical implant applications due to their superior mechanical properties, biocompatibility and, ability to promote cell adhesion and proliferation. Several
materials processing routes have been explored to prepare bulk and surface nanostructured metals/alloys. Surface nanostructuring by changing the surface chemistry
through deposition or diffusion processes is limited by porosity and contamination
besides uncertainty in achieving a good bonding between substrate and coating. The
surface nanostructuring process must enable an improvement in the overall properties of materials such as high hardness and strength, higher thermal expansion coefficient, improved tribological properties, and better fatigue properties, etc., to avoid
premature failure of implant materials. In this perspective, surface severe plastic
deformation (S
2 PD) processes assume significance as they could impart the desired
characteristics to a variety of metals and alloys by grain refinement mechanism,
without changing the overall composition and/or phases present in the material. The
improvement in properties is fundamentally derived from grain refinement mechanism by the introduction of a large amount of defects/strain. Surface mechanical
attrition treatment (SMAT) is an effective way of inducing localized plastic deformation (S
2 PD method) that results in grain refinement down to nanometer scale
without changing the chemical composition of the material. It is a very promising
method to produce functionally gradient materials, in which the nanocrystalline
T. Balusamy · T. S. N. Sankara Narayanan
CSIR-National Metallurgical Laboratory, Madras Centre, CSIR Complex,
Taramani, Chennai 600 113, India
e-mail: tsnsn2005@gmail.com
T. Balusamy (B)
Department of Applied Chemistry, Sri Venkateswara College of Engineering,
Sriperumbudur 602 117, India
e-mail: rtbalusamy@gmail.com
T. S. N. Sankara Narayanan · H. W. Park
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Ulsan National Institute of Science and
Technology, UNIST-Gil 50, Eonyang-Eup, Ulju-Gun, Ulsan 689 798, Republic of Korea
e-mail: hwpark@unist.ac.kr
© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2021
T. S. Santra and L. Mohan (eds.), Nanomaterials and Their Biomedical Applications,
Springer Series in Biomaterials Science and Engineering 16,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-33-6252-9_16
465
Materials for Implant Applications
T. Balusamy, T. S. N. Sankara Narayanan, and Hyung Wook Park
Abstract Nanostructured metallic materials are progressively investigated for
numerous biomedical implant applications due to their superior mechanical properties, biocompatibility and, ability to promote cell adhesion and proliferation. Several
materials processing routes have been explored to prepare bulk and surface nanostructured metals/alloys. Surface nanostructuring by changing the surface chemistry
through deposition or diffusion processes is limited by porosity and contamination
besides uncertainty in achieving a good bonding between substrate and coating. The
surface nanostructuring process must enable an improvement in the overall properties of materials such as high hardness and strength, higher thermal expansion coefficient, improved tribological properties, and better fatigue properties, etc., to avoid
premature failure of implant materials. In this perspective, surface severe plastic
deformation (S
2 PD) processes assume significance as they could impart the desired
characteristics to a variety of metals and alloys by grain refinement mechanism,
without changing the overall composition and/or phases present in the material. The
improvement in properties is fundamentally derived from grain refinement mechanism by the introduction of a large amount of defects/strain. Surface mechanical
attrition treatment (SMAT) is an effective way of inducing localized plastic deformation (S
2 PD method) that results in grain refinement down to nanometer scale
without changing the chemical composition of the material. It is a very promising
method to produce functionally gradient materials, in which the nanocrystalline
T. Balusamy · T. S. N. Sankara Narayanan
CSIR-National Metallurgical Laboratory, Madras Centre, CSIR Complex,
Taramani, Chennai 600 113, India
e-mail: tsnsn2005@gmail.com
T. Balusamy (B)
Department of Applied Chemistry, Sri Venkateswara College of Engineering,
Sriperumbudur 602 117, India
e-mail: rtbalusamy@gmail.com
T. S. N. Sankara Narayanan · H. W. Park
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Ulsan National Institute of Science and
Technology, UNIST-Gil 50, Eonyang-Eup, Ulju-Gun, Ulsan 689 798, Republic of Korea
e-mail: hwpark@unist.ac.kr
© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2021
T. S. Santra and L. Mohan (eds.), Nanomaterials and Their Biomedical Applications,
Springer Series in Biomaterials Science and Engineering 16,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-33-6252-9_16
465