Enhancement of bone-bonding strengths of titanium alloy implants by alkali and heat treatments.

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the bone-bonding ability of alkali- and heat-treated titanium alloys. Smoothed-surface rectangular plates of Ti6Al4V, Ti6Al2Nb1Ta, and Ti15Mo5Zr3Al were prepared. The plates were inserted transcortically into the proximal metaphyses of bilateral rabbit tibiae, with alkali- and heat-treated plates inserted on the right side, and untreated plates on the left. The tensile failure loads between the implants and the bones were measured after 8, 16, and 24 weeks by a detaching test. The untreated implants showed almost no bonding even at 16 weeks, and only weak bonding at 24 weeks. In contrast, treated implants showed bonding to bone at all time periods. Histological examination showed that alkali- and heat-treated alloys bonded directly to the bone. Conversely, the untreated implants had an intervening layer of fibrous tissue between the bone and the plate, or only partial direct contact with the bone. This study demonstrates that alkali and heat treatments enhance the bone-bonding strength of these titanium alloys. Although in this study even tentative conditions of the treatments enhance the bonding strength of the titanium alloys, further work is required to determine the optimum conditions for treatment to give the highest bonding strength. These new bioactive titanium alloys are available for weight-bearing and bone-bonding orthopedic devices. Copyright 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.