Superior Pre-Osteoblast Cell Response of Etched Ultrafine-Grained Titanium with a Controlled Crystallographic Orientation

Ultrafine-grained (UFG) Ti for improved mechanical performance as well as its surface modification enhancing biofunctions has attracted much attention in medical industries. Most of the studies on the surface etching of metallic biomaterials have focused on surface topography and wettability but not crystallographic orientation, i.e., texture, which influences the chemical as well as the physical properties. In this paper, the influences of texture and grain size on roughness, wettability, and pre-osteoblast cell response were investigated in vitro after HF etching treatment. The surface characteristics and cell behaviors of ultrafine, fine, and coarse-grained Ti were examined after the HF etching. The surface roughness during the etching treatment was significantly increased as the orientation angle from the basal pole was increased. The cell adhesion tendency of the rough surface was promoted. The UFG Ti substrate exhibited a higher texture energy state, rougher surface, enhanced hydrophilic wettability, and better cell adhesion and proliferation behaviors after etching than those of the coarse- and fine-grained Ti substrates. These results provide a new route for enhancing both mechanical and biological performances using etching after grain refinement of Ti.