Field of Expertise: Advanced Material Science
| |
Field of Expertise: Advanced Material Science | |
Surface structuring by Electron Beam Technique in titanium alloys for medical applications Titanium-based materials are used successfully as orthopedic devices due to their mechanical properties and biocompatibility. Mechanical properties of implants are strongly related to the microstructure obtained by thermo-mechanical processes and their biocompatibility depends on the chemical composition and the quality of the surface. The osteoconduction and osseointegration of implants are related to the surface topography and roughness of implant materials. For that, several techniques can be used to improve the functionalization of biomaterials, altering the surface from the nanometer to millimeter level for a specific application. This work investigates the structuring of titanium alloys by electron beam technique and the cell morphology as a function of the surface condition. Structured figures are designed following different criteria in order to develop a specific topography and roughness on the surface. The final geometry depends also on the beam parameters and the physical properties of the material, obtaining a range of roughness in the micrometer scale. This range is due to the change of the microstructure near the surface which brings an additional modification on the surface. |