Nitriding of titanium disks and industrial dental implants using hollow cathode discharge

Standard plasma nitriding of commercially pure Ti or various Ti alloys for human body implants (e.g., hip, knee, shoulder and ankle implants) has already proven useful. However, its use in dental implantology is rather limited due to high nitriding temperatures. The small dental implants of complex geometries are frequently distorted. To solve this problem and benefit from the ability of the plasma treatment to modify the implant surface properties (needed for faster osseointegration process), such as creating different surface topographies, increasing surface roughness, changing local chemical properties by formation of different phases, cleaning/sterilizing contaminated surface and increasing the surface wettability, the titanium disk samples and industrial dental implants were nitrided using a hollow cathode discharge (HCD) configuration of a plasma nitriding system in a 20% N2–H2 atmosphere at pressures of 150 or 250 Pa and temperatures ranging from 400 to 500 °C for 1 or 2 h. The topography of the samples was characterized by optical and electron microscopy. Phases were determined by X-ray diffraction. The surface roughness and wettability were also quantified. Nitrided layer formation having better stability, increased surface roughness and higher wettability has been observed for samples treated at 450 and 500 °C and at a pressure of 150 Pa. Industrially fabricated dental implants were then nitrided at 500 °C/150 Pa for 2 h. The results show capability of HCD in treating dental implants. A significant change in the surface texture and superior wettability of the plasma-treated dental implants, with no geometric distortions, have been observed.