Development of TiO2 layer produced by electrochemical treatment on Ti6Al4V alloy: its physicochemical and mechanical characterization

ABSTRACT The biomaterials based on titanium and their respective alloys are still widely applied as implants in dentistry and medicine fields. Among the many factors propitious to its wide use in regenerative medicine, its mechanical and, above all, its physicochemical properties are highlighted. The latter, besides being inherent to surface of this material, confer biocompatibility to it in physiological environment. According to the literature, the compound responsible for these properties is the naturally passivated titanium dioxide (TiO2) layer on its surface. In order to improve the bio-functionality of this surface, the scientific community has been studying ways to activate the passivated TiO2 layer through anodic electrochemical treatment. In this work, Ti6Al4V alloy had the characteristics of its TiO2 film modified through this processing in order to verify aspects such as the thickness of the formed layer, its porosity, its micro-hardness and its roughness. In the anodic electrochemical process, parameters of processing time, electrolyte concentration and voltage were controlled. The physicochemical characterization involved Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) analyzes with Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy (EDS), X Ray Diffraction (XRD) and X Ray Fluorescence (FRX). The mechanical characterization involved evaluation of Vickers Micro-hardness, roughness, thickness and porosity measurement of the formed layer. These evaluations showed that thicker and porous films were obtained under higher electrolyte concentrations and longer processing time. Roughness was also influenced by increasing electrolyte concentration and the voltage increase. Vickers Micro-hardness, on the other hand, was influenced inversely proportional to these parameters.