The relationship of surface roughness and wettability of 316L stainless steel implants with plastic deformation mechanisms

Abstract

The wettability of the implant plays significant role in successful tissue-implant integration and shows strong dependence on the surface topography of the material. Recent studies showed that the plastic deformation mechanisms can improve cell response, and increase surface roughness and energy. In order to understand the effect of these mechanisms on wettability, 316L stainless steel samples were subjected to tensile test and deformed up to 15% to 35% of strain levels. Atomic force microscopy (AFM) presented approximately 22-fold greater average surface roughness on the 35% deformed sample compared to undeformed one. On the other hand, sessile drop test showed contact angle decrease from 82 degrees to 52 degrees as the deformation increased. This finding is significant since much higher contact angle value at similar surface roughness was presented in the literature. This demonstrates that the plastic deformation mechanisms can play significant role in enhancing the surface wettability without a need for a surface treatment technique. Hence, through the activation of these mechanisms, wettability and surface energy of the implant materials could be further increased which would result with enhanced cell response and lessened post-surgical complications. (C) 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.