Corrosion property and biocompatibility evaluation of Fe–Zr–Nb thin film metallic glasses

Highlights: • Five Fe–Zr–Nb thin film metallic glasses (TFMGs) were grown by sputtering. • Nb contents of coatings increase from to 21.7 to 26.7 at%. • The hardness and elastic modulus of TFMGs increase with increasing Nb content. • Each TFMG has excellent adhesion and good biocompatibility. -- Abstract: The biocompatible thin film metallic glass (TFMGs) materials can be used to modify the substrate material due to their good corrosion resistance and adequate biocompatibility. In this work, five Fe–Zr–Nb TFMGs were fabricated on Si wafer and AISI420 stainless steel disk substrates using three pure targets co-sputtering system. The niobium target power was adjusted to grow TFMGs with different Nb contents ranging from 21.7 to 26.7 at%. Very fine and dense featureless microstructure was discovered for each Fe–Zr–Nb TFMG. The hardness, elastic modulus, H/E and H³/E² ratios of Fe–Zr–Nb TFMG increased with increasing Nb content. Good adhesion property was revealed for each TFMG. The corrosion resistance of the bare AISI420 stainless steel disk was greatly improved by the deposited Fe–Zr–Nb TFMG. Very good biocompatibility and MG63 cell viability were also found for TFMGs implying their potential application as biomedical materials.