Bioactive apatite coating on titanium using an alternate soaking process

We developed a novel apatite coating method that consisted of two-step of chemical treatment: a combined pretreatment of concentrated acid etching and alkaline treatment, followed by alternate soaking. In this study, the effects of the number of reaction cycles, solution temperature, and soaking time on apatite deposition on titanium surface using alternate soaking were investigated. Results revealed that the deposited amount of apatite mainly depended on the number of reaction cycles, and was independent of solution temperature and soaking time. Characterization results revealed that apatite formation using alternate soaking basically depended on ion exchange and adsorption on the pretreated surface. Further, apatite coating using alternate soaking on a 200-grid titanium mesh confirmed that this coating method was applicable for substrates with complicated shapes.