Surface Characteristics Influenced by Laser Texturing Parameters on Biomedical-Grade Aisi 316lvm Stainless Steel

Abstract

Surface roughness and wettability, which characterize the texture formed on the implant surface, are critical features for the functionality of the implant. Laser texturing is a promising processing method because of the advantages it provides in creating a particular surface topography on the surface of a metallic implant material with a nanosecond pulsed laser beam. Different experimental combinations were created using a fiber pulsed marking device on the surface of AISI 316LVM implant material using the hatch strategy; textures depending on the scan speed, frequency, and hatch distance were created on the surface. The surface roughness and wettability evaluated the effects of parameters on the texture form. Based on the experimental and statistical results, while the scan speed was the most significant parameter affecting the wettability behavior and surface roughness, the hatch strategy and frequency also affected the surface roughness to some extent. Many textured surfaces showed super-hydrophilic behavior with a contact angle of 0[Formula: see text]. It has been determined that surface textures with the same or close roughness values did not exhibit the same wettability behavior. The lowest surface roughness of 2 [Formula: see text]m with a 132[Formula: see text] contact angle was obtained at a hatch strategy of 0[Formula: see text]/90[Formula: see text], a scan speed of 900 mm/s, a frequency of 100 kHz, and a hatch distance of 0.03 mm. Three-dimensional surface images show that while many craters formed the surface textures, overlapping consecutive beams and hatch strategies significantly affected the surface topography.