Modification of hydroxyapatite surface properties by electron irradiation

Abstract In the present work, the modification of wetting properties of EB irradiated HA ceramics are studied under air and N2 gas atmospheres. We show a noticeable increase of the hydrophily of electron irradiated HA ceramics in an air atmosphere and a lesser increase when the samples are irradiated in an N2 atmosphere, such a phenomenon is correlated to a modification of grain morphology obtained under the 2 atm. With a progressive water saturation of the ceramics, the wetting angles increase progressively until they reach a plateau value different from each set of samples (irradiated under air, irradiated under N2 atmosphere and pristine). Profilometry, SEM/EDX, XRD and Raman spectrometry analysis do not show differences between irradiated and pristine samples which indicates that the EB irradiation modifies the surface chemical elements related to the surface wetting properties and not those analysed by the above techniques.