ABSTRACT
It is difficult to get sufficient roughness on titanium implant surface using traditional electrochemical treatments. In this study, we have developed a new method which provides a hybrid structured titanium surface having micro/nano roughness using electrochemical treatment in NaCl electrolyte and hydrothermal treatment. Titanium disks were anodically oxidized (ANO) in 0.15M NaCl electrolyte by applying positive electric pulses. The oxide compounds loosely attached to the surface were removed by ultrasonic cleaning (ANO group). These specimens were hydrothermally (HT) treated in an alkaline solution (ANO-HT group). ANO group showed the dimpled grain surfaces with a diameter of approximately 30 µm, and its roughness (Ra) was about 2.4 µm. The nano-sized crystallites which had an anatase TiO₂ crystalline structure were uniformly distributed on the surface of ANO-HT group. This group still retained high roughness (~2.7 µm) similar to ANO group and showed high hydrophilicity. Titanium surface with high roughness and hydrophilicity was fabricated using new electrochemical treating method and hydrothermal treatment. This surface modification method could be used for enhancing the osteoconductivity of the titanium implants.