Nader Kalkhoran, VP of business and technology development at N2 Biomedical LLC, was featured in a recent article in Orthopedic Design & Technology magazine. The article, “Surface Treatments and Coatings Add a Layer of Value,” offered a roundtable discussion between experts in the field of orthopedic device surface modification and coating technologies and services. Experts including Kalkhoran discussed the benefits of surface treatments and […]

Benefits of Spectrum™ Color Coatings   Spectrum™ is a proprietary vacuum-based PVD process that produces nano-engineered durable and functionally aesthetic color coatings on any reflective substrate including metal alloys such as stainless steel, NiTi, and CoCr which cannot be color anodized. Spectrum™ color coatings can also be applied to metal-coated thermoplastic substrates such as PEEK. Its unique characteristics make Spectrum™ […]

As the use of biomaterials increases in various orthopedic and spinal surgery procedures, the demand is growing for implants with enhanced infection resistance. This feature is vital, as it reduces the implant failure rate as well as undue cost to the healthcare system. Considering the advanced status of existing implant designs, recent research has focused on a variety of surface […]

Interest and demand are growing for nanoengineered titanium coatings and surface treatments to improve the performance of polyetheretherketone (PEEK) and metal-based implants used for orthopedic and spinal device applications. In a study sponsored by SeaSpine of Carlsbad CA, Walsh et al. investigated the in-vivo response of submicron-thick nano-structured Ti coatings called NanoMetalne® (NM) on PEEK.1,2  For the study, they used […]

Interest and demand are growing for nano-engineered titanium coatings and surface treatments to improve the performance of PEEK and metal-based implants used for orthopedic and spinal device applications. This article will discuss the performance advantages of thin titanium coatings deposited using Ion Beam Assisted Deposition (IBAD) technique on PEEK versus the much thicker Ti coatings deposited using the thermal plasma […]

Titanium Coatings on PEEK for Enhanced Osseointegration Researchers have increasingly focused on forming a coating of titanium on PEEK-based implants to improve surface functionality and bone attachment and integration, while at the same time maintaining the native benefits of PEEK implants, including imaging characteristics and mechanical properties.1-5 Learn more about PEEK implants. PEEK, or polyetheretherketone, has increasingly been used as […]

Polyether ether ketone, more commonly referred to as PEEK, has increasingly been used in recent years as an implant material for orthopedic and spinal devices (such as spinal interbodies, dental implants, screws, and small joints) in part due to its inherent properties such as chemical inertness, radiolucency, and an elastic modulus that is closely matched to natural bone.1,2 Despite these […]

Since the IonGuard® ion implantation treatment is not a coating, there is no risk of delamination due to the process. The implanted ions are embedded into the surface without altering the bulk properties of the device. This low-risk process, combined with a long-list of predicate devices that have benefited from the treatment in the past thirty years, give the IonGuard® […]

When it comes to the surface modification of substrates or the application of coatings to medical devices, N2 does much of its most important work at the nano-scale through nano-texturing and nano-scale surface modification. Nano-texturing is the process of augmenting the surface of a substrate to improve desired properties. There are many practical applications for this process. For example, ion […]