Surface improvement for biocompatibility of ti-6al-4v by dealloying in metallic melt

Abstract

Dealloying is known to be a powerful method to produce porous materials mainly with noble metals because the mechanism involves the selective dissolution of specific element(s) by corrosion in acid/alkali aqueous solutions. Recently, an alternative dealloying method has been developed by our research group using a metallic melt in place of the corrosive aqueous solution. In this study, using the novel dealloying method using a metallic melt, toxic Al element, was successfully removed from the surface of Ti-6Al-4V, which has been used for biomedical applications, for improving their biocompatibility. The toxic ion release from the overall sample did not effectively decrease because of the substantial surface area that developed using the dealloying method. By optimizing the dealloying conditions to suppress surface area development, drastic improvement in the biocompatibility of this Ti alloy is expected.