TY - JOUR
T1 - Electron beam structuring of Ti6Al4V
T2 - New insights on the metal surface properties influencing the bacterial adhesion
AU - Ferraris, Sara
AU - Warchomicka, Fernando
AU - Iranshahi, Fatemeh
AU - Rimondini, Lia
AU - Cochis, Andrea
AU - Spriano, Silvia
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 by the authors.
PY - 2020/1/1
Y1 - 2020/1/1
N2 - Soft tissue adhesion and infection prevention are currently challenging for dental transmucosal or percutaneous orthopedic implants. It has previously been shown that aligned micro-grooves obtained by Electron Beam (EB) can drive fibroblast alignment for improved soft tissue adhesion. In this work, evidence is presented that the same technique can also be effective for a reduction of the infection risk. Grooves 10-30 μm wide and around 0.2 μm deep were obtained on Ti6Al4V by EB. EB treatment changes the crystalline structure and microstructure in a surface layer that is thicker than the groove depth. Unexpectedly, a significant bacterial reduction was observed. The surfaces were characterized by field emission scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, confocal microscopy, contact profilometry, wettability and bacterial adhesion tests. The influence of surface topography, microstructure and crystallography on bacterial adhesion was systematically investigated: it was evidenced that the bacterial reduction after EB surface treatment is not correlated with the grooves, but with the microstructure induced by the EB treatment, with a significant bacterial reduction when the surface microstructure has a high density of grain boundaries. This correlation between microstructure and bacterial adhesion was reported for the first time for Ti alloys.
AB - Soft tissue adhesion and infection prevention are currently challenging for dental transmucosal or percutaneous orthopedic implants. It has previously been shown that aligned micro-grooves obtained by Electron Beam (EB) can drive fibroblast alignment for improved soft tissue adhesion. In this work, evidence is presented that the same technique can also be effective for a reduction of the infection risk. Grooves 10-30 μm wide and around 0.2 μm deep were obtained on Ti6Al4V by EB. EB treatment changes the crystalline structure and microstructure in a surface layer that is thicker than the groove depth. Unexpectedly, a significant bacterial reduction was observed. The surfaces were characterized by field emission scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, confocal microscopy, contact profilometry, wettability and bacterial adhesion tests. The influence of surface topography, microstructure and crystallography on bacterial adhesion was systematically investigated: it was evidenced that the bacterial reduction after EB surface treatment is not correlated with the grooves, but with the microstructure induced by the EB treatment, with a significant bacterial reduction when the surface microstructure has a high density of grain boundaries. This correlation between microstructure and bacterial adhesion was reported for the first time for Ti alloys.
KW - Bacteria adhesion
KW - Electron beam structuring
KW - Fibroblast alignment
KW - Microstructure
KW - Titanium
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85081078342&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.3390/ma13020409
DO - 10.3390/ma13020409
M3 - Article
SN - 1996-1944
VL - 13
JO - Materials
JF - Materials
IS - 2
M1 - 409
ER -