Evaluation of chemically modified Ti-5Mo-3Fe alloy surface: Electrochemical aspects and in vitro bioactivity on MG63 cells

Abstract

Ti-5Mo-3Fe(TMF) alloy is a newly developed beta-titanium alloy with low modulus, and it has been deemed as suitable material for dental or orthopaedic implant. The aim of the present study is to evaluate the effect of alkali and hydrogen peroxide treatment on the corrosion and biological performance of TMF surface. The phases, morphology with chemical composition and topography of the treated surface were examined by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) coupled with energy dispersive X-ray (EDAX) analysis and atomic force microscopy (AFM), respectively. Micro hardness of treated substrateswas measured using Vicker's micro hardness method. The electrochemical studies were carried out usingpotentiodynamic polarisation and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) measurements. In order to describe the bio-activity, contact angle measurements, in vitro characterisation and cell culture studies were performed for treated TMF surfaces in simulated body fluid (SBF) and MG63 cells. All these observations showed that the NaOH treatment is the most appropriate method for TMF alloy which exhibited superior biocompatibility and enhanced corrosion protection performance due to their hydrophilic, smooth, compact porous surface morphology than that of other substrates.