SYNTHESIS AND PROPERTIES OF GRADED POROUS TI-TIO2 MULTIFUNCTIONAL COMPOSITES OBTAINED BY DIFFERENT PROCESSING METHODS

Functionally graded materials for load bearing implants have a long history of academic development and an already high degree of maturity. Efforts are now undertaken to improve the biocompatibility and even induce bioactivity within the implant-bone interface by optimised surface nanostructure of porous ceramic and metalic layers grown or sintered on a metallic implant, in order to arrive at cementless implants capable of fast osteointegration and high interface strength. Several new methods for surface structure and composition modification are presented for Ti-alloy based implants: a nano-structuring of the surface by re-deposition of TiO(2) using an ECR-Microwave Plasma treatment combined with ion bombardment on a sintered TiO(2) ceramic surface, a multiscale modification of porous Ti-coatings by means of Micro-Arc-Oxidation, MAO, and a meso-structuring of the surface by means of a laser treatment. The goal is to establish a multi-functionality in such materials by formation of a morphological and compositional gradient spanning many dimensions. The applicability of these methods to real implants is discussed for a dental implant.