The Effects of Surface Roughness on the Functionality of Ti13Nb13Zr Orthopedic Implants
Babak Jahani
Abstract
In this study, the effects of surface roughness on the wettability, cell attachment, and mechanical properties of titanium based Ti13Nb13Zr orthopedic implants have been investigated. This research aimed to find an optimum range of surface roughness for Ti13Nb13Zr orthopedic implants that can maximize the attachment and the proliferation of cells and improve the wettability of the surface, without adversely affecting the mechanical strength of the implants. Some published research works support the existence of some relationship between the roughness and the functionality of implants, but still, an optimum roughness that can satisfy all the orthopedic requirements, either is not fully studied or not published. It was seen that the performance of orthopedic implants depends on multiple paradoxical parameters. The results of this study show, even though increasing of surface roughness can increase the initial phase of cell attachment on the surface of Ti13Nb13Zr implants but, other major functions such as wettability and mechanical properties can be influenced adversely. Through an experimental methodology, this study proposes an optimum range of roughness, which meets all three major functions of cell attachment, mechanical properties, and wettability. To investigate the behavior of Ti13Nb13Zr with different roughness values, three categories of tests were performed including contact angle measurement (wettability), three-point bending, and cell culture tests. It was observed that Ti13Nb13Zr samples with surface roughness within a range of 20m to 25m, can satisfy the major topographical requirements of orthopedic implants.