Evaluation of a new laser surface implant: scanning electron microscopy/energy dispersive X-ray and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy analyses.

The roughness and the purity of implant surfaces are key points in the osteointegration process. The surfaces obtained by classic methods present irregular non-reproducible patterns and furthermore contaminate the implant surface with materials other than titanium which interfere with the process of osteointegration. The aim of the present study is to evaluate, by SEM/EDX and XPS analyses, the surface microstructure and the purity of new laser-treated implant surfaces. The laser treatment of the surface allows to set parameters to determine the roughness in order to obtain a regular and repeatable surface. Furthermore, there being no contact between the implant and the machine, there is no surface contamination with elements other than titanium. In this study we used a diode-pumped solid state laser (DPSS) with Nd:YAG source operating in Q-Switching mode on titanium samples. The resulting samples were analysed by SEM/EDX and XPS to evaluate morphology and purity of the surface. The results show surfaces with very regular roughness and a total absence of contamination.