A new ? phase Ti-29Nb-13Ta-4.6Zr (TNTZ) alloy was developed for biomedical materials by Niinomi et al.[1] It does not contain any toxic elements and has some excellent features such as mechanical properties, better cyto-compatibility and higher corrosion resistance. Since TNTZ alloy surface is bioinert, their surface was hydrothermally treated to attain bioactive sodium titanate layer on it. Sample was treated in 5M NaOH solution containing 0.2 w% NH4F as an additive at 90 and 150oC for 2hours. Surface treated at 90oC had a relatively flat mesh structure as shown in Fig. 1(a). On the other hand, surface treated at 150oC had a rough mesh structure shown in Fig. 1(b). That was because titanium was easily dissolved in the solution and thicker sodium titanate layer was formed at higher temperature. After hydrothermal treatment, samples were soaked in SBF solution for 2 weeks to induce apatite on the sodium titanate layer. Though both samples (a) and (b) in Fig.1 showed a bioactivity, sample (a) did not induce apatite densely but sparsely as compared in Fig. 1(c) and (d). From this result, it was assumed that sample (b) having rougher surface could accelerate the apatite induction.Fig.1 (a)90?o?C before SBF soaking, (b)150?o?C before SBF soaking, (c)90?oC after SBF soaking, (d)150?o?C after SBF soaking[1] M. Niinomi, Biomaterials, 24  , 2673-2683 (2003).

Morphology control of TNTZ alloy using hydrothermal process for apatite induction

248th National Meeting (2014)

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