Figure 8. a. Surface morphologies of Ti-Ta alloys,

i, ii and iii) show SEM micrographs of Ti-25Ta surfaces with acicular α’ and α” platelet microstructure for SLM fabricated (i)¹⁰ and DED fabricated (iii)²⁵³ Ti-25Ta alloys, while (ii) shows more β-phase stabilization for Ti-25Ta alloys²⁴⁸, iv) exhibits equiaxed microstructure containing both α” and ω phases²⁵⁴,v) shows Ti-35Ta microstructure, which was subjected to heat treatment to achieve homogenized distribution of Ta²⁵⁵. b. In vitro cell-material interaction of Ti-Ta alloy surfaces, i) human adipose-derived stem cells show well-attached morphology and proliferation on Ti-30Ta surfaces nanotube architecture²⁵⁶, ii) well proliferated osteoblast cells on Ti-25Ta surface with uniform surface area coverage and layering shows enhanced biocompatibility of this alloys²⁵³. c, In vivo implantation of Ti-Ta alloys, i and ii) show implant-bone apposition of Ti-Ta alloys from a radiograph of rabbit femurs and CT-scan of rat femurs respectively²⁵³. d, Biological response in a dynamic in vivo environment, i) showing optical micrographs of Ti-10Ta and Ti-25Ta bone-implant sections from rat femur implantation revealing enhanced osteoid formation (red areas) in NT modified alloy surfaces while (ii) corroborates the results exhibiting higher trabecular bone formation at 7 weeks in rabbit femur implantation²⁵³.