A
boron coating is applied to selected surfaces of surgical devices, including orthopedic prosthetic alloys and surgical tools to improve
sliding wear and provide other benefits. The
coating may be applied to CoCrMo, stainless steel, or
titanium alloy components of artificial hips, knees, shoulders, and other articulating joints, which bear on wear partners and which experience
rubbing wear during use of the joint. In such cases, the
coating is preferably applied in particular to the
rubbing wear surface of the CoCrMo
alloy component to reduce wear of either the
alloy component or the
mating polymer component, for
corrosion improvement, for
biocompatibility, or for improvement in infection performance of the device. The
boron coating may show evidence for reactive bonding to the substrate, which may include evidence of in-
diffusion or of interdiffusion between the
boron and the substrate material. The inventive boron or boron-based coating may also be applied to non-wear surfaces of the alloy to improve performance in terms of
biocompatibility or
infection resistance, as for hip joint stems or other fixation parts of devices. The inventive coating may also be applied to medical devices such as surgical tools to provide a hard, sharp
cutting surface. A method of making boron-coated medical devices is also disclosed.