Fabrication of hydrophobic surface on Ti6Al4V by WEDM process for surgical instruments and bioimplants

Bacterial contamination is among the major issues that occur in surgical instruments and biomedical implants. Bacterial adhesion to surgical instruments and bioimplants form a biofilm that causes microbial infection. Various surface texturing methods are being developed to change the surface properties for reducing the adhesion and colonization of bacteria. Hierarchical structure with dual-scale (micro-nano) surface roughness over materials counters bacterial growth and its spread. In this investigation, WEDM (wire electrical discharge machining) process is adopted to generate hydrophobic surface over Ti6Al4V due to its wide application in the biomedical field. The objective of this work is to evaluate the wettability and antibacterial property of fabricated curved microarray structure over Ti6Al4V. The obtained result shows that the hierarchical structure with dual-scale surface roughness increases the hydrophobicity as compared to non-hierarchical structure. E-coli was selected for bacterial adhesion investigation because this bacterial strain is very common on surgical instruments and bioimplants. The antibacterial investigation reported that colony-forming unit (CFU) of E-coli reduced from 1200 CFU for as received surface to 96 CFU for curved microarray structure.

Automated summary

The study demonstrates that the hierarchical structure with dual-scale surface roughness formed on Ti6Al4V material can effectively enhance the surface hydrophobicity and antibacterial properties, reducing bacterial adhesion and growth.