Investigating the effect of picosecond laser texturing on microstructure and biofunctionalization of titanium alloy

Laser processing technique has been an effective method to enhance the medical implant's biocompatibility through forming specific textures on titanium alloy implant surface. In this paper, a 1064 nm pulsed picosecond laser on TC4 titanium alloy implant samples was conducted to obtain optimal parameters for well-structured textures, controllable micro-grooves and improved osteoblast adhesion and proliferation. Picosecond laser technique is generally characterized by the high flexibility and advanced properties, which could make structural features including topography quality and detailed dimensions expediently improved and changed by adjusting laser processing parameters. To obtain the optimal laser processing parameters for desired microstructures, orthogonal experiments and related SEM, EDS and SPM analysis were conducted under various laser powers, repetition frequencies, scan speeds and scan numbers. Thus, the correlation between picosecond laser processing parameters and its corresponding microstructure feature of the micro-grooves was established. In addition, the immunofluorescence detection of cell actin cytoskeleton shows that structured textures can promote cell adhesion and play an important role in cell contact guidance.