Title: Biocompatibility of the electrical discharge machining process on titanium surfaces

Authors: Maxence Bigerelle; Karine Anselme; Sylvain Giljean

Addresses: Laboratoire Thermique, Energétique, Mise en forme, Production, EA 4542, Université de Valenciennes et du Hainaut Cambrésis, Le Mont Houy, 59313 Valenciennes, France; LAMIH UMR UVHC-CNRS 8530, Université de Valenciennes et du Hainaut Cambrésis, Le Mont Houy, 59313 Valenciennes, France. ' Institut de Science des Matériaux de Mulhouse (IS2M), CNRS LRC7228, Université de Haute-Alsace, 15 rue Jean Starcky, BP 2488, 68057 Mulhouse Cedex, France. ' Equipe PPMR – LPMT, EAC CNRS 4365, IUT Département GMP, Université de Haute-Alsace, 61 rue Albert Camus, 68093 Mulhouse Cedex, France

Abstract: Pure titanium samples were obtained using electrical discharge machining (EDM) on a spark erosion machine. Twenty-two titanium samples were obtained exhibiting a wide range of arithmetic roughness (R_a) varying from 1 to more than 20.9 µm. The surfaces present an isotropic structure formed by successive peaks and valleys. No specific direction or periodical structure is visible on surfaces. It is shown that the surfaces present similar morphological structures since the surfaces appear like a zoom of the surface at a lower grade while the grade rises. It is shown that it exists a bandwidth in the amplitude roughness where surfaces lost significantly their biocompatibility. However, electro-erosion is an appropriate tool-machining process to increase the biocompatibility of titanium implants when creating a relevant roughness.

Keywords: cell adhesion; electrical discharge machining; EDM; surface roughness; titanium surfaces; biocompatibility; electro-discharge machining; surface quality; titanium implants; bioengineering; biomedical engineering.

DOI: 10.1504/IJMMS.2012.049970

International Journal of Mechatronics and Manufacturing Systems, 2012 Vol.5 No.5/6, pp.419 - 430

Received: 14 Jun 2011
Accepted: 22 Jan 2012
Published online: 21 Aug 2014 *

Full-text access for editors Full-text access for subscribers Purchase this article Comment on this article