Surface characteristics and bioactivity of a novel natural HA/Zircon nanocomposite coated on dental implants

The surface characteristics of implant which influence the speed and strength of osseointegration include surface chemistry, crystal structure and crystallinity, roughness, strain hardening, and presence of impurities. The aim of this study was to evaluate the bioactivity and roughness of a novel natural hydroxyapatite/zircon (NHA/zircon) nanobiocomposite, coated on 316L stainless steel (SS) soaked in simulated body fluid (SBF). NHA/zircon nanobiocomposite was fabricated with 0 wt.%, 5 wt.%, 10 wt.%, and 15 wt.% of zircon in NHA using ball mill for 20 minutes. The composite mixture was coated on 316L SS using plasma spray method. The results are estimated using the scanning electron microscopy (SEM) observation to evaluate surface morphology, X-ray diffraction (XRD) to analyze phase composition, and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) technique to evaluate the shape and size of prepared NHA. Surfaces roughness tester was performed to characterize the coated nanocomposite samples. The maximum average Ra (14.54 μm) was found in the NHA 10 wt.% of zircon coating. In addition, crystallinity (Xc) was measured by XRD data, which indicated the minimum value (Xc = 41.1%) for the sample containing 10 wt.% of zircon. Maximum bioactivity occurred in the sample containing 10 wt.% of zircon, which was due to two reasons: first, the maximum roughness and, second, the minimum crystallinity of nanobiocomposite coating.