A New Toxic-Free Ti40zr10co36pd14 Metallic Glass with Good Biocompatibility and Surface Behavior Comparable to Ti-6al-4v

Abstract

In this study, a new toxic-free Ti40Zr10Co36Pd14 amorphous alloy with a critical casting size of 5 mm diameter and 20 mm long was synthesised through copper-mold casting process. The Ti40Zr10Co36Pd14 bulk metallic glass (BMG) rod was further formed into thin films through the filtered cathodic vacuum arc (FCVA) deposition process. To assess the biocompatibility and the surface behaviour of the synthesised Ti40Zr10Co36Pd14 BMG, the metallic glass (MG) thin films were fabricated on the glass substrate and cultured using murine osteoblast cells (MC3T3-E1) and human osteoblast-like cells (SaOS-2). Various characterisation techniques were utilised to evaluate the surface properties and the cultured cells behavior of the deposited thin films.  The synthesised Ti40Zr10Co36Pd14 composition showed good biocompatibility similar to the routinely used Ti-6Al-4V. The osteoblast cells proliferate very well on the Ti40Zr10Co36Pd14 MGs and exhibited similar levels of alkaline phosphatase enzymatic activity to those of the controls and the Ti-6Al-4V material. The MC3T3-E1 cells adhered and spread faster on the alumina particle blasted Ti40Zr10Co36Pd14 and Ti-6Al-4V surfaces with osteoblast-like shapes. These results suggest that Ti40Zr10Co36Pd14 BMG is biocompatible and could support osteoblast differentiation. Thus, the new alloy could be used as a candidate material for potential biomedical application.

Keywords: bulk metallic glass, biocompatibility, copper-mold casting, cell culture, surface roughness, sandblasting