A novel bioactive glass–ceramic M2 was firstly plasma-sprayed onto Ti–6Al–4V alloy.
The amount of micro-cracks in M2 coating was smaller than that of commercial HA coating.
M2 coating on Ti–6A1–4V substrate was nearly twice the bonding strength of HA coating.
Ti–6Al–4V/M2 coating composite had good bioactivity and cytocompatibility in vitro.