Additive texturing of metallic implant surfaces for improved wetting and biotribological performance

The current study introduces a novel additive texturing method to fabricate samples with dimple and groove textures through the laser-based powder bed fusion (PBF) technique using stainless steel (SS 316L) powder. The topographical analysis shows that the additive textured samples are fabricated with periodic feature sizes less than 150 μm and within an error limit of 7%. Fine grains with an average size of 14.05 μm and 13.62 μm are formed in dimple and groove textured samples, respectively, leading to enhancement of micro-hardness up to 213%. XRD results show the formation of the face-centered cubic (FCC) austenitic phase only. Further, the wettability study indicates hydrophilic wetting behavior with contact angles in the ranges of 72.3°–60.6° for deionized (DI) water and 64.1°–39.9° for hank's balanced salt solution (HBSS). The bio-tribology test with hip-joint prosthesis condition is carried out, and the results indicate that the coefficient of friction (COF) value of 0.11 in a dry condition for groove textured, whereas for dimple textured it is 0.38 under lubricated condition. The details of the study are described in this manuscript.