Pulsed Nd:YAG laser processing of calcium phosphate coatings on titanium

Abstract

Calcium phosphate coatings which are frequently used to improve biocompatibility and osteointegration of the titanium implants are obtained usually by wet chemical or high temperature thermal, plasma processing and suffer from weak titanium/phosphate bonding, absence of efficient process and composition regulation factors. In addition to the known method of increasing the stability of hydroxyapatite coating by creation of gradient AI2O3 transitional layer at the titanium surface a new method of pulsed Nd-YAG laser processing of the Ti surface in the presence of hydroxyapatite (HA) and tricalcium phosphate (TCP) was further developed and the results are presented in this paper. Optical and electron microscope investigations as well as EDX revealed that more versatile bioactive coating with regulated micro-heterogeneous calcium phosphate layer may be created this way in comparison with the known deposition methods. Pre-osteoblast cells (HEPM 1486, ATCC) were cultured onto control and covered substrates and showed different morphology. Keywords: Titanium; Calcium phosphate coating; Laser processing.