The Effects of Heat Treatment Atmosphere on the Bone-Like Apatite Inducement on the Alkali Treated Ti-6Al-4 V Surfaces

The purpose of this study is to investigate the bone-like apatite inducement ability on the 5 M NaOH, deionized water and 600°C atmospheric or vacuum heat treated Ti-6Al-4 V surfaces in the modified simulated body fluid (m-SBF) solutions. The alkali-heat treated specimens were soaked in m-SBF up to 7 days for their bioactivity evaluation and induced bone-like apatite layer investigation. All the samples were characterized their surface morphology, chemical and bioactivity by SEM, EDX, XRD and contact angle analysis, respectively. The experimental results show that a thin HA-rich bone-like apatite layer was formed along all the alkali-heat treated Ti-6Al-4 V surfaces within 5 days after soaking in the m-SBF. It is also found the alkali-atmospheric heat treated Ti-6Al-4 V samples have more favourable bioactivity than alkali-vacuum heat treated counterparts.