Modifications of Titanium and Zirconium Alloy Surfaces for Use as Dental Implants

Abstract

The use of dental implants of titanium and its alloys has proved to be effective, through well established and documented parameters, both in the dimensions and in the manufacturing processes and also in the surgical techniques. There are clinical situations where there is a need to reduce the diameter of the implants, below 3.75 mm in diameter. In the current state of art of the implant technology it is desirable that these also have surfaces capable of decreasing the period of osseointegration. In the present work, to improve the mechanical strength of the material, an alloy of 80% of Ti and 20% of Zr % in mass was proposed and elaborated, aiming its use as biomaterial. Physical, chemical, microstructural and mechanical characterization was carried out. The surfaces of the treated samples were observed using: scanning electron microscopy (SEM); semi quantitatively chemically analyzed using dispersive energy spectroscopy (EDS: wettability of the samples was determined and, finally, the roughness was measured using optical profilometry. For the conditions used in the present work, it was concluded, that the best surface treatment for the TiZr 80/20 alloy was acid etching with 1% vol. hydrofluoric acid for 5 minutes, as this treatment presented the most prominent results of wettability and roughness simultaneously.