Preparation and properties of plasma electrolytic oxidation coating on sandblasted pure titanium by a combination treatment.

Plasma electrolytic oxidation (PEO) is one of the most applicable methods to produce bioceramic coating on a dental implant and sandblasting is a primary technique to modify metal surface properties. This study aims to deposit bioceramic Ca- and P-containing coatings on sandblasted commercially pure titanium by PEO technique to improve its bioactive performance. The time-dependent modified surfaces are characterized in terms of their microstructure, phase, chemical composition, mechanical properties and bioactivities. The results show that the combination-treated coating exhibits better properties than the PEO-treated one, especially in bioactivities, as evidenced by the HA formation after immersion in simulated body fluid (SBF) for 5 days and the cell viability after seeding for 1 or 3 days. The enhancement of the modified surface is attributed to a combination of the mechanical sandblasting and the microplasma oxidation.

Ultrasonic enhancing amorphization during synthesis of calcium phosphate.

Amorphous calcium phosphate (ACP) has great application potential in biomaterials field due to its non-cytotoxicity, high bioactivity, good cytocompatibility, and so on. The results of this research demonstrated that ultrasonic obviously enhanced amorphization during synthesis of calcium phosphate. The ACP phase was relatively ideal when the solvent of Ca(NO3)2·4H2O was ethanol and the solvent of (NH4)2HPO4 was a mixture of water and ethanol, under ultrasonic. In-situ crystallization of ACP could be observed by HRTEM. The mechanism on the effects of ultrasonic on amorphization of the synthesized calcium phosphate was discussed. It was suggested that ultrasonic synthesis might be a facile method to prepare pure and safe ACP related biomaterials.

Factors influencing the deposition of hydroxyapatite coating onto hollow glass microspheres.

Hydroxyapatite (HA) and HA coated microcarriers for cell culture and delivery have attracted more attention recently, owing to the rapid progress in the field of tissue engineering. In this research, a dense and uniform HA coating with the thickness of about 2 µm was successfully deposited on hollow glass microspheres (HGM) by biomimetic process. The influences of SBF concentration, immersion time, solid/liquid ratio and activation of HGM on the deposition rate and coating characteristics were discussed. X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Fourier transform infrared spectrum (FTIR) analyses revealed that the deposited HA is poorly crystalline. The thickness of HA coating showed almost no increase after immersion in 1.5SBF for more than 15 days with the solid/liquid ratio of 1:150. At the same time, SBF concentration, solid/liquid ratio and activation treatment played vital roles in the formation of HA coating on HGM. This poorly crystallized HA coated HGM could have potential use as microcarrier for cell culture.

Effect of sintering on porosity, phase, and surface morphology of spray dried hydroxyapatite microspheres.

This article deals with the effect of sintering temperature on the physical and chemical characteristics of hydroxyapatite microspheres (HAMs) obtained by spray drying method. A set of specimens were sintered in a conventional furnace at 500-1100 degrees C. The surface morphology, phase composition, size distribution, specific surface area, and porosity were characterized by scanning electron microscope, X-ray diffractometer, laser diffraction particle size analyzer, and specific surface area analyzer, respectively. The results indicated that at 800 degrees C, hydroxyapatite crystals began to grow and were sintered together, which caused a drastic decrease in both the specific surface area and the pore volume. Great changes took place on the surfaces of HAMs during sintering. When the samples were sintered at the temperature of 500 and 600 degrees C, no obvious changes can be found on the surfaces of the samples, but at 800 degrees C, open-micropore surfaces came forth. Besides, the dispersibility of the samples decreased at high temperature (1100 degrees C) because small particles tended to aggregate together.

Plasma-sprayed hydroxyapatite+titania composite bond coat for hydroxyapatite coating on titanium substrate.

A two-layer hydroxyapatite (HA)/HA+TiO(2) bond coat composite coating (HTH coating) on titanium was fabricated by plasma spraying. The HA+TiO(2) bond coat (HTBC) consists of 50 vol% HA and 50 vol% TiO(2) (HT). The microstructural characterization of the HTH coatings before and after heat treatment was conducted by using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), electron probe microanalyser (EPMA), X-ray diffractometer (XRD) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM), in comparison with that of HT coating and pure HA coating. The results revealed that HA and TiO(2) phases layered in an alternating pattern within the HTBC, and the HTBC bonded well to HA top coating (HAT coating) and Ti substrate. The as-sprayed HT coating consists mainly of crystalline HA, rutile TiO(2) and amorphous Ca-P phase. The post-spray heat treatment at 650 degrees C for 120 min effectively restores the structural integrity of HA by transforming non-HA phases into HA. It was found that there exists interdiffusion of the elements within the HTBC, but no chemical product between HA and TiO(2), such as CaTiO(3) was formed. The cross-sectional morphologies confirmed that there is a shift towards a relatively tighter bonding from the HAT coating/HTBC interface in the as-sprayed HTH coating to the HTBC/Ti substrate interface in the heat-treated HTH coating. On quenching the coatings into water, the surface cracking indicates more apparently the positive effect of the HTBC on the decrease of residual stress in HAT coating. The in situ surface cracking also suggests that the stress on the surface of the HTH coating is stable under subjection to a repetitious heat treatment. The toughening and strengthening of HTBC is thought to be mainly due to TiO(2) as obstacles embarrassing cracking, the reduction of the near-tip stresses resulting from stress-induced microcracking and the decrease of CTE mismatch. In the HTH composite coating, the HAT coating is toughened by the decreased CTE mismatch with Ti through the addition of HTBC, which bonds well to the Ti substrate via its TiO(2) hobnobbing with the Ti oxides formed on Ti substrate.

[Investigation on the transition probability of the aluminum resonant double lines].

In order to obtain the aluminum resonant double lines, Al I 396.15 nm and Al I 394.40 nm, we have recorded the time-resolved spectra of the plasma induced by Nd:YAG laser ablating metal aluminum in Ar, under the Ar ambient pressure 10 kPa, at 0.1 mm in front of the target, with laser pulse energy 145 mJ/pulse. Relative intensities of the double lines were acquired by integrating the area under the double lines, respectively. According to the ratio of the intensities of the double lines, the ratio of transition probability of the double lines was deduced, and contrasted with the theoretical value. As the result, we found they tally with each other exactly. Limited to our experimental condition, we could only estimate approximately the ratio of transition probability of the double lines. Further experiments were needed for precise measurements of respective transition probability of the double lines.

[The influence of the screw thread and the height of constraints on the stress distribution around dental implants by using three-dimensional finite element analysis].

OBJECTIVE: To study the influence of the screw thread and the height of constraints on the stress distribution of the implants. METHODS: The three-dimensional emulational models of the implants with different screw-pitch were constructed by a CAD/CAM package. The Von Mises stress of the models was analyzed by three-dimensional finite element method. RESULTS: The constraints of the long implant were high. When the constraint height reduced, the change of the stress value of the implants without screw thread was much less than that of the implants with screw thread. The difference of screw-pitch had little influence on the stress value and the stress concentration of the implants. CONCLUSION: The strength requirement of screw implant was high. Stress distribution of the long dental implants was more reasonable than the other, which will contribute to the success of dental implants.