Contact Angle Measurements at the Interface of Co-Cr Alloy Sintered by DMLS and Coated with Hydroxyapatite

Abstract

The purpose of this paper consists in the evaluation of the contact angle at the interface of Co-Cr sintered samples by DMLS process. The sintered samples supported a post treatment and were coated by HA using sol-gel method and were immersed in simulated biological fluid SBFx1 for 7 days. The Co-Cr (ST2724G) sintered disks by Direct Metal Laser Sintering (DMLS) process using a Phenix Systems machine, were coated by hydroxyapatite sol-gel method for improving the bioactivity of dental implants. KSV CAM 101 apparatus is used for static contact angle measurements performed on dried films. After wetting angle determination, we can notice that the sintered samples of Co-Cr alloy, which supported a post treatment, after DMLS process show better roughness surfaces and the layers of HA are uniformly deposited. The contact angle values are very important to characterize the surfaces and the roughness of the solid materials used for implantology. In this paper, the contact angles at the interface between Co-Cr sintered disks coating with HA and distilled water reveal a hydrophilic character. Scanning electronic microscopy SEM and EDS techniques were employed for morphological investigation of the sintered samples manufactured by DMLS process. They were also used for semi-quantitative and qualitative chemical and metallographic analyses.