3D Printed Ti–6Al–4V Implant with a Micro/Nanostructured Surface and Its Cellular Responses

Abstract

printing technology has been proved to be a powerful tool for the free-form fabrication of titanium (Ti) implants. However, the surface quality of 3D printed Ti implants is not suitable for clinical application directly. Therefore, surface modification of 3D printed Ti implants is required in order to achieve good biocompatibility and osseointegration. In this study, a novel surface modification method of 3D printed Ti−6Al−4V implants has been proposed, which combined acid etching with hydrothermal treatment to construct micro/nanostructures. Polished TC4 sheets (P), electron beam melting Ti sheets (AE), and micro/nanostructured Ti sheets (AMH) were used in this study to evaluate the effects of different surface morphologies on cellular responses. The surface morphology and 3D topography after treatment were detected via scanning electron microscopy and laser scanning microscopy. The results illustrated that a hierarchical structure comprising micro-valleys and nanowires with a surface roughness of 14.388 μm was successfully constructed. Compared with group P samples, the hydrophilicity of group AMH samples significantly increased with a reduced water contact angle from 54.9°to 4.5°. Cell culture experiments indicated that the micro/nanostructures on the material surface could enhance the cell adhesion and proliferation of MC3T3s. The microstructure could enhance bone-toimplant contact, and the nanostructure could directly interact with some cell membrane receptors. Overall, this study proposes a new strategy to construct micro/nanostructures on the surface of 3D printed Ti−6Al−4V implants and may further serve as a potential modification method for better osteogenesis ability.

A TMPS-designed personalized mandibular scaffolds with optimized SLA parameters and mechanical properties

“…The roughness was significantly lower in the sandblasted group (R a = 2.66 μm, R q = 3.36 μm) and SLA group (R a = 3.37 μm R q = 4.24 μm) only compared to the untreated group (R a = 7.97 μm, R q = 9.73 μm). An ideal roughness should be between 1-10 μm (Yu et al, 2020), both treatments resulted in roughness within this range.…”

“…The sample surface morphology was characterized by field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM; FJEOL, Japan). The biocompatibility of 3D-printing Ti6Al4V scaffolds is directly related to their surface wettability (Yu et al, 2020). The contact angle is an important feature in determining materials' wettability.…”

Multifunctional Coatings of Titanium Implants Toward Promoting Osseointegration and Preventing Infection: Recent Developments

“…Therefore, removing residual powders on the substrate of 3D printing needs to obtain better biocompatibility. For example, Yu et al fabricated micro/nanostructures on the surface of 3D-printed Ti-6Al-4V via acid etching and hydrothermal treatment, which played a positive role on promoting the cell proliferation and adhesion ( Yu et al, 2020a ). In addition, some researchers used a porous titanium scaffold printed by selective laser melting (SLM), which is similar to 3D printing, to modulate the surface topology of the scaffold and then improve the osseointegration ( Song et al, 2019 ).…”

A Two-Step Approach to Tune the Micro and Nanoscale Morphology of Porous Niobium Oxide to Promote Osteointegration

“…Pointing to niobium, attention has been focused on the oxide enrichment in Ca and P compounds for osteointegration purposes using various electrolytes: a porous oxide layer structure has been reported, with morphology and composition depending on electrolyte, applied potential, limiting current and process time [19][20][21][22][23][24]. Together with macro roughness, which can help to mimic the bone trabecular structure, micro/nano roughness has been reported to play a key role to stimulate osteoblast adhesion and proliferation [2,3,[25][26][27][28][29][30]. The submicrometer morphology can also help in preventing the adhesion of bacteria, limiting adhesion points on the material surface and causing mechanical rupture of bacterial cell membranes [31][32][33][34][35].…”

“…Surface morphology modifications with an increase in surface roughness and the formation of porous submicrometer structures has been reported upon chemical treatment in alkaline solutions at room [42,43] or higher temperature [41,44,45]. A hierarchical morphology exhibiting micro-valleys and nanostructures has been obtained combining acid etching and hydrothermal alkali treatment [25].…”