Bioactivity enhancement of titanium induced by Nd:Yag laser pulses

In this research, the effect of laser properties such as laser power and laser dwell time on the surface morphology and oxidizing of titanium have been investigated in order to enhance the bioactivity of laser textured titanium sheets.

The Ti samples were irradiated with nanosecond pulses to create the predetermined point patterns on the surface of sample sheets with specific laser parameters. Final bioactivity of the treated samples were evaluated through the use of simulated body fluid (SBF), followed by material characterization techniques such as X-ray diffraction (XRD) and energy dispersive (EDX).

It was observed that by increasing the roughness of the titanium surface samples using a range of dwelling time, and with different powers, titania with higher levels of surface energy in micro/sub-micro scales are produced. The use of laser results in a one-step heat increase and the oxidation of titanium, which results in creation of titania with higher cell adhesion abilities.

It was concluded that the variation of the surface roughness, surface morphology, and oxidation level of the material has a direct effect on the cell adhesion rate to the surface of the titanium. Upon completion of the analysis, it is concluded that using a higher power and a lower dwelling time results in better bioactivity improvement than using higher dwelling times and lower powers.