Prakt. Met. Sonderband 38 (2006) 441 
rilized by 3.2 Mechanical and Tribological Properties 
propriate 
cubate at Hardness and elastic modulus were derived from the loading-unloading curve during 
riod were nanoindentation measurements and are shown in Table 1." The tabulated results indicate 
removed the ZrN-Ag films had superior mechanical properties compared to ZrN. Fig. 2 shows the wear 
/ere then volume determined from evaluating the topography of the wear track using profilometery. 
% crystal The lowest wear rate was calculated to be 27 x 10° mm®*N.m and corresponded to the film 
xide for a with a 7% Ag content. 
Amen 
previous 
e. Films 
ons. The Sample 
the (111) Figure 2: Wear volume vs. silver content 
) V and - 
1. This 
ains (Ag 3.3 Protein Adsorption 
ion rings 
cted area The blood compatibility of the coatings was evaluated by probing the interaction of its surface 
ry broad with the HSA and Fib proteins. Adsorption of proteins is one of the initial events to occur 
1g to the when a foreign materials is implanted in a human being or an animal and, as a result, should 
be critically evaluated." Implants are recognized by the biological system as intruders and 
their surfaces may activate defense systems leading to immunologic and/or inflammatory 
response reactions and surface-induced blood coagulation. Such activations are initiated by 
adsorbing proteins and are then followed by a cascade of reactions regulated by enzymes. 
The nature of protein adsorption will influence the subsequent tissue response on the implant. 
In the development of biomaterials, one of the most important tasks is to find surfaces that 
can fool nature and still fulfill their intended biological functions in spite of being foreign. 
Many methods have been utilized to investigate protein adsorption on surfaces and include 
ellipsometry, variable angle reflectometry, fluorescence spectroscopy, scanning electron 
microsocopy, and atomic force microscopy.” In this work, ellipsometry was used to 
investigate the adsorption of HAS and Fib on the deposited coatings. An improvement in the 
HSA surface concentration against that of Fib is desirable for the successful functionalization 
of haemocompatible films. From an ellipsometric measurement, one obtains the ellipsometric 
parameters A and WW vs. photon energy.” Ellipsometry is, thus, an indirect method that 
requires an optical model for quantitative evaluation.