Adhesion enhancement of 316L stainless steel to acrylic bone cement through nanocomposite sol–gel coating system

A nanocomposite hybrid coating was synthesised from tetraethylethoxysilane and 3-methacryloxypropyl trimethoxysilane in the presence of benzoyl peroxide as an initiator agent by sol–gel process. The AISI 316L stainless steel (SS) was coated with this coating at ambient temperature. The effect of the hybrid coating on the adhesion promotion of bone cement to SS substrate was investigated qualitatively as well as quantitatively. The adhesion tests indicated that the coated 316L SS compared with the uncoated samples induces increases of ∼450% in strength and 200% in strain by single lap joint shear test. The samples were also characterised using scanning electron microscopy, optical microscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and small angle X-ray scattering (SAXS). The test results indicated that the coated surfaces were quite uniform and crack free. Silicon mapping and SAXS analysis of the coated samples indicated that the inorganic moieties of the hybrid (i.e. Si–O–Si) were uniformly distr...