Evaluation of Bioactivity of Ti-6Al-7Nb Alloys with Various Hydrothermal Treatment Times

열수처리 시간에 따른 Ti-6Al-7Nh 합금의 생체활성 평가

This study was to investigate whether the bioactivity of the anodized and hydrothermally treated Ti-6Al-7Nb alloy were affected by the time of hydrothermal treatment. Anodizing was performed at current density 30 $mA/cm^2$ up to 300 V in electrolyte solutions containing $DL-{\alpha}-glycerophosphate$ disodium salt hydrate $(DL-{\alpha}-GP)$ and calcium acetate (CA). Hydrothermal treatment was done at $300^{\circ}C$ for 30 min, 1 hr, 2 hrs, and 4 hrs to produce a thin film layer of hydroxyapatite (HA). The bioactivity was evaluated from HA formation on the surfaces in a Hanks' solution with pH 7.4 at $36.5^{\circ}C$ for 10, 20, and 30 days. Anodic oxide films were porous with pore size of $1\sim4{\mu}m\;and\;3\sim4{\mu}m$ thickness. The anodic oxide films composed with strong anatase peak with presence of rutile peak, and showed the increase in intensity of anatase peak after hydrothermal treatment. It was shown that the intensity of anatase peak increased with increasing the time of hydrothermal treatment but was no difference in rutile peak. The corrosion voltage was the highest in the group of hydrothermal treatment for 2 hrs (Ecorr: -338.6 mV). The bioactivity in Hank's solution was accelerated with increasing the time of hydrothermal treatment.