Effect of microstructural evolution on wettability of laser coated calcium phosphate on titanium alloy

Surface engineering of synthetic implant materials provides an exciting opportunity to mimic natural biomaterials. Surface that are bioactive and textured at multi-scale have the potential for easier osseointegration. Ti alloy surfaces known for their biocompatibility are coated with bioactive calcium phosphate using a laser source at multiple processing speeds. The resulting surface has multi-scale morphology and multi-phase chemical nature. Faster processing speeds showed improved wettability to water along with higher degree of crystallinity in the phases present. Furthermore, decreased laser processing speeds induced formation of increased amount of glassy phases that are expected to provide increased biocompatibility. The combination of these opposing effects suggested that optimum crystallinity leading to optimum wettability can be produced at intermediate speeds for improved biocompatibility.