Titanium dental implants have common clinical applications due to their biocompatibility, biophysical and biochemical characteristics. Although current titanium is thought to be safe and beneficial for patients, there are several indications that it may release toxic metal ions or metal nanoparticles from its alloys into the surrounding environment, which could lead to clinically relevant complications including toxic reactions as well as immune dysfunctions. Hence, an adequate selection and testing of medical biomaterial with outstanding properties are warranted. This study was designed to explore the biocompatibility of smooth titanium-niobium alloy (S_TiNb) versus smooth titanium commercially pure (S_TiCp)—a reference in implantology. All experiments were performed in vitro using human osteoblast-like SaOs-2 and monocyte THP-1 cell lines as models. Cell adhesion and growth morphology were determined by scanning electron microscopy, while cell viability was evaluated using WST-1 assay. Because niobate anions or niobium nanoparticles can be released from implants during biomaterial-cell interaction, potential immunotoxicity of potassium niobate (KNbO₃₎ salt was evaluated by examining both metabolic activity and transcriptomic profiling of treated THP-1 monocytes. The main findings of this study are that S_TiCp and S_TiNb discs do not show an impact on the proliferation and viability of SaOs-2 cells compared to polystyrene surfaces, whereas a significant decrease in THP-1 cells’ viability and metabolic activity was observed in the presence of S_TiNb discs compared to the control group. However, no significant changes were found neither at the metabolic activity nor at the transcriptomic level of THP-1 monocytes exposed to KNbO₃ salt, suggesting that niobium has no effect on the immune system. Overall, these data imply a possible toxicity of S_TiNb discs toward THP-1 cells, which may not be directly related to niobium but perhaps to the manufacturing process of titanium-niobium alloy. Thus, this limitation must be overcome to make titanium alloy an excellent material for medical applications.

The osseointegration of implants is defined as the direct anatomical and functional connection between neoformed living bone and the surface of a supporting implant. The biological compatibility of implants depends on various parameters, such as the nature of the material, chemical composition, surface topography, chemistry and loading, surface treatment, and physical and mechanical properties. In this context, the objective of this study is to evaluate the biocompatibility of rough (Ra = 1 µm) and smooth (Ra = 0 µm) surface conditions of yttria–zirconia (Y-TZP) discs compared to pure zirconia (ZrO₂) discs by combining a classical toxicological test, morphological observations by SEM, and a transcriptomic analysis on an in vitro model of human Saos-2 bone cells. Similar cell proliferation rates were observed between ZrO₂ and Y-TZP discs and control cells, regardless of the surface topography, at up to 96 h of exposure. Dense cell matting was similarly observed on the surfaces of both materials. Interestingly, only 110 transcripts were differentially expressed across the human transcriptome, consistent with the excellent biocompatibility of Y-TZP reported in the literature. These deregulated transcripts are mainly involved in two pathways, the first being related to “mineral uptake” and the second being the “immune response”. These observations suggest that Y-TZP is an interesting candidate for application in implantology.

We examined the effect of Al₅₉Cu₂₅Fe₁₃B₃ (at.%) quasicrystalline (QC) reinforcement particles on the mechanical and surface properties of a polymer-matrix composite by applying a technical polymer polyphthalamide (PPA). The observed increase in the tensile Young’s modulus ranged from 1810 MPa for the pure polymer to 4114 MPa for the composite with a QC filling of 35 vol.%. The elongation at fracture decreased with the filling fraction, being equal to 16.9% for a pure polymer and dropping to 4.8% for the composite with a QC filling of 35 vol.%. The same trend was noticeable with flexural Young’s modulus, which ranged from 100 MPa for a pure polymer to 125.5 MPa for the composite with 35 vol.% of QC. It was found that the increase in the mechanical strength led to a simultaneous increase of brittleness, which was reflected in a decrease of the impact strength for a pure polymer from 98.5 kJ/m² to 42.4 kJ/m² for composites with a QC filling of 35 vol.%. In contrast, when filled with 5 vol.% of QC, the impact strength increased by 8%. The friction coefficient against 100C6 steel dropped from 0.15 for pure PPA down to 0.10 for 5 vol.% of the QC filling, followed by an increase to 0.26 for further QC fillings up to 35 vol.%. Interestingly, a local minimum of friction was achieved at filling factors between 5 to 20 vol.% of QC. Independently, a clear surfenergy minimum was also found for the composite material with 20 vol.% of QC filling associated with a net drop in the polar component of the surfenergy. Surfenergy refers to the surface energy related to the top of the oxide layer under ambient conditions. We hypothesise that this is related to the percolation threshold at about 13 vol.% QC, reflected in the observed behaviour of both the friction coefficient and surfenergy. For the pure QC annealed in air for 1 h at 500 °C significant wear tracks were observed accompanied by a wear debris formation. On the other hand, a pure polymer exhibited slightly visible wear tracks with no apparent debris formation, and for the composites with different QC filling factors, the wear traces were barely visible with negligible debris formation.

The success of titanium dental implants depends on their osseointegration into the bone, which is determined by the composition and surface properties of the implant in close contact with the bone. There is a wide variety of implants on the market. Is it possible to identify the implant with the best composition and surface topography for optimal osseointegration? To this aim, 13 brands of dental implants from nine distinct manufacturers have been selected and their composition and surface topography determined. The obtained results show differences between these implants, in this case, the Ssk averages of the three measurements performed on each implant were positive, or 0.4 (0.1–0.8), indicating that the roughness of all implants analyzed was primarily textured and not flat. Like Sa, we found the highest Sdr for implants subjected only to sandblasting. In addition, only the ALS-active^® implant had a modified microstructure on its surface. However, analysis of the NANOTITE implant surface revealed a 1.40% presence of calcium which we consider too low to have an effect on bone formation around the implant. As a result, we have also highlighted the lack of a recognized independent standard for dental implant surface conditions and the lack of independent quality control vis-à-vis manufacturers. Of all the surface types studied, none proved more satisfactory than another.

The load-penetration curve in elastic nanoindentation of an elastic micropolar flat by a diamond spherical punch is analyzed. The presented results are obtained by a specifically developed numerical tool based on a judicious combination of the conventional boundary element method and strong form local point interpolation method. The results show that the usual linear relationship between the material depression and the square of the radius of the contact area is also valid in this case of micropolar elastic material. It is also shown that the relation between the indentation stress (applied load over the contact surface) and the indentation strain (ratio of contact radius by the punch radius) is linear. The proportionality coefficient which is none other than the indentation stiffness varies with the coupling factor of the micropolar elastic medium. A relation between the indentation stiffness of a micropolar solid and that of a conventional solid with the same Young modulus and Poisson ratio is derived.

La réparation de l’humain est un secteur d’activité qui nécessite les compétences en sciences médicales et sciences dites «dures». Dans de nombreux cas, tout ou partie d’un organe doit être remplacé par un substitut en matériau inerte. C’est par exemple le cas en implantologie où l’on s’intéresse au remplacement de dents. La pose d’un implant dentaire est un acte chirurgical qui consiste à introduire dans l’os de la mandibule un dispositif en matériau inerte destiné à recevoir la couronne dentaire. Ces prothèses sont plus ou moins tolérées par l’organisme vivant (environ 5% de rejet) et peuvent dans certains cas conduire à une ruine de l’os ou engendrer des infections connues sous le nom de péri-implantite. Pour améliorer la biocompatibilité de ces dispositifs médicaux, plusieurs pistes sont explorées. On peut s’intéresser à la géométrie de l’implant et son état de surface, au matériau de l’implant ou bien au système mécanique implant-os. C’est dans ce dernier cadre que nous avons situé notre travail de thèse. Le système os/dent est un système mécanique soumis à des sollicitations répétées de forte intensité. Les niveaux de contrainte et de déformation atteints lors de la mastication participent à la stabilité de l’ensemble et la viabilité de ces milieux vivants. Ces niveaux de contrainte et de déformation doivent être reproduits dans l’os dans le cas du système implant-os. On espère ainsi assurer la viabilité de l’os et éviter les divers processus de dégradation. Il convient donc de simuler et analyser la réponse d’un tel système à des sollicitations mécaniques. Ce travail nécessite la modélisation du comportement de l’os et de l’implant. Ce dernier est considéré comme un matériau métallique classique sollicité dans son domaine de déformation élastique. Pour ce qui est l’os, son observation fine révèle sa nature multi-échelle et nous avons choisi de modéliser son comportement par une particularisation du milieu micromorphique de Eringen. Plus précisément nous l’avons considéré comme un milieu élastique micropolaire. Pour résoudre les équations de champs du problème, il a été nécessaire de développer un outil numérique spécifiquement dédié. Cet outil est basé sur une combinaison astucieuse de la méthode des éléments de frontières et d’une méthode sans maillage (meshless), plus précisément une méthode de collocation par points. Dans un premier temps, afin de comprendre le principe de la méthode, nous avons développé l’outil numérique pour résoudre une équation de champ scalaire, ici équation de la conduction thermique transitoire. Nous avons pu constater l’efficacité de la méthode pour des systèmes en trois dimensions. Dans un second temps nous avons adapté notre méthode numérique pour résoudre des équations de champ vectoriel qui sont dans notre cas les équations pour les milieux élastiques micropolaires. L’outil numérique a été validé sur un nombre d’exemples possédant une solution analytique ou en comparaison aux résultats de la littérature sur d’autres types de problèmes. L’outil a ensuite été appliqué à l’analyse du système implant-os. Pour comprendre l’apport de la microstructure d’un milieu élastique micropolaire, en comparaison à un milieu élastique classique, nous avons fait différentes études du système implant-os sous sollicitations mécaniques diverses en considérant les deux types de modélisation pour l’os. Les paramètres macroscopiques pour un milieu élastique micropolaire sont les mêmes que pour un milieu élastique classique. Les différences obtenues ne proviendront que de l’apport de la microstructure. Les résultats obtenus montrent que la modélisation fine du comportement mécanique adoptée pour l’os est réaliste au regard des contraintes induites par la sollicitation et à la diminution notable des sauts de contraintes à l’interface os/métal comparé au cas de la modélisation de l’os comme un milieu élastique classique. Ces résultats ont d’ores et déjà permis de comprendre certaines observations cliniques.