Morphology and structural studies of laser treated 45S5 bioactive glass

• Surface morphology of glass samples is influenced by incident laser fluence.
• The porous microstructures are obtained in laser treated samples.
• Microstructure changes with an increase in laser fluence.
• Laser treated samples show an improvement in the formation of bioactive layer.

Osseointegration of an implant takes place when cells interact with implanted material, which depends on the surface and microstructural properties of the materials. In order to study the response of surface modified bioactive glasses in body fluid, glass samples with nominal composition (wt.%) 45SiO2–24.5CaO–24.5Na2O–6P2O5 are prepared by melt-quench technique and characterized for thermo-physical and structural properties. The glass samples are irradiated with nanosecond laser at different laser fluences. Structural and microstructural features of laser treated samples are investigated by Raman and scanning electron microscope. The morphology of laser treated glass samples has shown the formation of porous microstructure with pore size varying from 50 nm to 2 μm. In vitro testing of laser treated samples in simulated body fluid reveals a significant improvement in the formation of bioactive layer in comparison to untreated bioactive glass samples.