Experimental Study On Low Temperature Plasma Modification Of Polyetheretherketone

Objective:In this experiment,PEEK implant material was surface treated by low temperature plasma surface treatment technology,which can form nanotopology on the surface of PEEK.The effects of various types of gas low temperature plasma treatment on the biological activity of PEEK implant materials were explored by in vitro experiments,which laid a good theoretical foundation for the wide application of PEEK materials in the dental field.Methods:The PEEK standard test pieces were randomly divided into no treatment group(control group),argon plasma treatment group(argon group),nitrogen plasma treatment group(nitrogen group),90%argon gas plus 10%nitrogen group(argon+nitrogen group).The test pieces were prepared under different parameters of each group.Scanning electron microscopy(SEM)and atomic force microscopy(AFM)were used to observe the surface topography and roughness of each test piece;the contact angle measuring instrument was used to determine the water contact angle of the test piece surface;X-ray Photoelectron Spectrometer(XPS)for detecting element composition changes on material surface;The specimens were co-cultured with MC3T3-E1 osteoblasts to observe the adhesion,proliferation and differentiation of osteoblasts on the surface of the material,so as to comprehensively evaluate the effect of low temperature plasma surface modification on the biological activity of PEEK.Results:The results of SEM and AFM showed that the surface of the control group was relatively flat,and the surface of each group after the low-temperature plasma treatment became uneven.The surface morphology changes at nanoscale.Compared with the control group,the roughness of each modified group increased with statistical significance(P<0.05).The roughness of nitrogen group was the largest,followed by argon+nitrogen group and argon group was the smallest.Water contact angle results indicate that low temperature plasma surface modification technology can significantly reduce the water contact angle of PEEK material.The reduction of the nitrogen group was the largest,followed by the argon+nitrogen group and the argon group was the smallest.XPS results showed that nitrogen was introduced into the surface of the modified materials after plasma treatment.The results of biological activity showed that PEEK treated by low temperature plasma had no cytotoxicity and the modified specimens promoted the adhesion,proliferation and differentiation of MC3T3-E1 osteoblasts on the surface of the specimens,which showed good biological activity.Among them,nitrogen group had the strongest biological activity.Conclusions:The low temperature plasma modification of argon,nitrogen,argon and nitrogen can form a nanotopology on the surface of PEEK,and can also significantly improve the biological activity of PEEK,among which nitrogen group has the strongest effect.