TY - JOUR

T1 - Hierarchical Surface Pattern on Ni‐Free Ti‐Based Bulk Metallic Glass to Control Cell Interactions

AU - Cai, Fei‐Fan

AU - Blanquer, Andreu

AU - Costa, Miguel B.

AU - Schweiger, Lukas

AU - Sarac, Baran

AU - Greer, A. Lindsay

AU - Schroers, Jan

AU - Teichert, Christian

AU - Nogués, Carme

AU - Spieckermann, Florian

AU - Eckert, Jürgen

N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2023 The Authors. Small published by Wiley-VCH GmbH.

PY - 2023/12/18

Y1 - 2023/12/18

N2 - Ni-free Ti-based bulk metallic glasses (BMGs) are exciting materials for biomedical applications because of their outstanding biocompatibility and advantageous mechanical properties. The glassy nature of BMGs allows them to be shaped and patterned via thermoplastic forming (TPF). This work demonstrates the versatility of the TPF technique to create micro- and nano-patterns and hierarchical structures on Ti40Zr10Cu34Pd14Sn2 BMG. Particularly, a hierarchical structure fabricated by a two-step TPF process integrates 400 nm hexagonal close-packed protrusions on 2.5 µm square protuberances while preserving the advantageous mechanical properties from the as-cast material state. The correlations between thermal history, structure, and mechanical properties are explored. Regarding biocompatibility, Ti40Zr10Cu34Pd14Sn2 BMGs with four surface topographies (flat, micro-patterned, nano-patterned, and hierarchical-structured surfaces) are investigated using Saos-2 cell lines. Alamar Blue assay and live/dead analysis show that all tested surfaces have good cell proliferation and viability. Patterned surfaces are observed to promote the formation of longer filopodia on the edge of the cytoskeleton, leading to star-shaped and dendritic cell morphologies compared with the flat surface. In addition to potential implant applications, TPF-patterned Ti-BMGs enable a high level of order and design flexibility on the surface topography, expanding the available toolbox for studying cell behavior on rigid and ordered surfaces.

AB - Ni-free Ti-based bulk metallic glasses (BMGs) are exciting materials for biomedical applications because of their outstanding biocompatibility and advantageous mechanical properties. The glassy nature of BMGs allows them to be shaped and patterned via thermoplastic forming (TPF). This work demonstrates the versatility of the TPF technique to create micro- and nano-patterns and hierarchical structures on Ti40Zr10Cu34Pd14Sn2 BMG. Particularly, a hierarchical structure fabricated by a two-step TPF process integrates 400 nm hexagonal close-packed protrusions on 2.5 µm square protuberances while preserving the advantageous mechanical properties from the as-cast material state. The correlations between thermal history, structure, and mechanical properties are explored. Regarding biocompatibility, Ti40Zr10Cu34Pd14Sn2 BMGs with four surface topographies (flat, micro-patterned, nano-patterned, and hierarchical-structured surfaces) are investigated using Saos-2 cell lines. Alamar Blue assay and live/dead analysis show that all tested surfaces have good cell proliferation and viability. Patterned surfaces are observed to promote the formation of longer filopodia on the edge of the cytoskeleton, leading to star-shaped and dendritic cell morphologies compared with the flat surface. In addition to potential implant applications, TPF-patterned Ti-BMGs enable a high level of order and design flexibility on the surface topography, expanding the available toolbox for studying cell behavior on rigid and ordered surfaces.

KW - biocompatibility

KW - biomaterials

KW - bulk metallic glass

KW - patterning

KW - thermoplastic forming

KW - titanium alloys

KW - topography

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85179993136&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1002/smll.202310364

DO - 10.1002/smll.202310364

M3 - Article

VL - 29.2024

JO - Small

JF - Small

SN - 1613-6810

IS - 22

M1 - 2310364

ER -