Porous Ti6Al4V alloy scaffold with controllable geometrical features, desirable mechanical properties, and adjustable porosity, have been developed as a promising biomaterial for bone repair. However, the inherent bio-inertness of Ti6Al4V alloy restricts its ability of bone ingrowth and regeneration. In this study, a Ti6Al4V scaffold with a diamond lattice was fabricated by laser powder bed fusion technology. Then, a bioactive glass (BG) coating was uniformly deposited on the porous Ti6Al4V scaffold via low-temperature plasma spraying. The BG-coated Ti6Al4V scaffold displayed excellent consistency and connectivity with no-pore blockage or fracture defects. Furthermore, the BG coating displayed excellent tensile and shear bond strengths, and establish good interfacial adhesion to the Ti6Al4V matrix. As a result, the risk of delamination was reduced. More importantly, the BG coating shown high mineralization potential and could form a Ca-P immersion product film on the scaffold surface, effectively preventing the leaching of Al and V ions and improving surface bioactivity. In vitro studies further demonstrated the BG-coated Ti6Al4V scaffold exhibited better cell proliferation and osteoblast differentiation. In summary, the BG-coated Ti6Al4V scaffold had stable interfacial adhesion integrity and enhanced bioactivity, offering significant potential for bone tissue engineering applications.
Zeng et al. (Wed,) studied this question.