Investigation of laser parameter effect on surface modification of poly ether ether ketone (PEEK)

Today’s PEEK polymer becomes a very interactive polymer in biomedical application, especially in bone replacement implant due to its good mechanical and chemical properties and also its biocompatibility. But this polymer besides of good properties is bio-inert. Therefore, this issue restricts the use of it as the biomaterial. Hence several methods have been used for surface modification. On the other hand, laser application will have developed in industry and medical usage and recently in the surface modification. so laser is good choice to modify the surface whit out change the bulk appropriate property of PEEK. In this study, the ND-YAG portable laser was used in different conditions to investigate the effect of the three parameters of the laser including the distance of the laser tip to the surface of the sample, voltage, and frequency of laser device on surface variation. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and light microscopy were used to investigate the laser effect on the surface of the sample at 9 different conditions. And the result showed the effect of voltage and frequency and distance are important on surface morphology. And it was observed with increasing the voltage and frequency the surface roughness become increasing too, and also laser effectiveness was the best at a distance of 5 cm rather than 1 and 10 cm. At last it looks like that laser shot at 1000 volts and frequency of 6 Hz and a distance of 5 cm is the most suitable condition because of uniform surface roughness and cavity, but for exact investigation the roughness measurement and surface wettability test is needed to choose the optimum laser parameter to achieve appropriate roughness range based on available documentary studies

Keywords:

laser , surface modification , poly ether ether ketone , roughness