Journal of Biomaterials and Nanobiotechnology, 2015, 6, 126-134 Published Online July 2015 in SciRes. http://www.scirp.org/journal/jbnb http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/jbnb.2015.63012 How to cite this paper: Zuldesmi, M., Kuroda, K., Okido, M., Ueda, M. and Ikeda, M. (2015) Osteoconductivity of Hydro- philic Surfaces of Zr-9Nb-3Sn Alloy with Hydrothermal Treatment. Journal of Biomaterials and Nanobiotechnology, 6, 126- 134. http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/jbnb.2015.63012 Osteoconductivity of Hydrophilic Surfaces of Zr-9Nb-3Sn Alloy with Hydrothermal Treatment Mansjur Zuldesmi 1,2 , Kensuke Kuroda 3 , Masazumi Okido 3 , Masato Ueda 4 , Masahiko Ikeda 4 1 Department of Materials Science & Engineering, Graduate School of Engineering, Nagoya University, Nagoya, Japan 2 Department of Mechanical Engineering, Manado State University (UNIMA), Indonesia 3 EcoTopia Science Institute, Nagoya University, Nagoya, Japan 4 Faculty of Chemistry, Materials and Bioengineering, Kansai University, Suita, Japan Email: mzuldesmi@yahoo.com Received 13 March 2015; accepted 3 June 2015; published 8 June 2015 Copyright © 2015 by authors and Scientific Research Publishing Inc. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution International License (CC BY). http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Abstract Zirconium and its alloys are more suitable materials for implant surgery to be performed in a magnetic resonance imaging scanner compared with other implant materials. Although they have high anticorrosion properties in the body, as do titanium and its alloys, they have little use as im- plants in contact with bone because of their low osteoconductivity (bone-implant contact ratio). To improve the osteoconductivity of zirconium, niobium, and Zr-9Nb-3Sn alloy, we applied a sin- gle-step hydrothermal surface treatment using distilled water at a temperature of 180˚C for 3 h. The hydrothermally treated samples were stored in a ×5 phosphate-buffered saline (PBS(−)) solu- tion to keep or to improve the water contact angle (WCA), which has a strongly positive effect on osteoconductivity. The specimen surfaces were characterized using scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, surface roughness, and contact angle mea- surement using a 2 µL droplet of distilled water. The relationship between WCA and osteoconduc- tivity for various surface modifications was examined using in vivo tests. The results showed that a superhydrophilic surface with a WCA ≤ 10˚ and a high osteoconductivity of up to 40% in cortical bone, about four times higher than the as-polished Zr-9Nb-3Sn and its pure alloy elements, was provided by the combination of hydrothermal surface treatment and storage in ×5 PBS(−). Keywords Zirconium Alloys, Hydrothermal, Hydrophilic, in Vivo, Osteoconductivity