Characterization of High Strength, High Porosity Gyroid-sheet Scaffolds

Abstract

Additive manufacturing (AM, or 3D printing) has revolutionized fabrication of three dimensional (3D) parts with increased control over design at macro/meso-scale (part scale geometry, porous topology) and micro/nanoscale (topography). AM has enabled fabrication of metallic, polymeric, and ceramic scaffolds with complex porous architectures which were not previously achievable with traditional manufacturing methods. In particular, selective laser melting (SLM) has emerged as a leading technology for fabrication of porous metallic scaffolds for biomedical and other applications. Titanium alloy (Ti6Al4V) scaffolds are of interest due to the material’s high strength, corrosion resistance, and biocompatibility. Architecting porous scaffolds with tunable properties is highly relevant for load-bearing medical implants, including treatment of bone defects. Although established relationships exist for metallic foams, the complex topologies enabled by AM necessitate further characterization. In particular, investigation of processing-structure-property relationships for novel sheet-based architectures produced via SLM where topology strongly influences performance. Thus, the overall objective of this work is to develop fundamental topology driven processing-structure-property relationships considering tradeoffs between strength, fatigue resistance, and osseointegrative behavior of SLM titanium scaffolds.