SURFACE-TREATMENT AND BIOMATERIAL

Biomaterial can be defined as material with specific use in biological surroundings. Therefore, beyond toxicity aspects, biocompatibility is mainly due to adhesion phenomena (mechanical anchoring, dipole-dipole and acid-base interactions...). Only few molecular layers are concern ed. Common materials treatment , such as cold plasma and radiation met hods, leads largely to a modification of the surface chemistry which, for biological applications, must be taken into account. Different exa mples are given.