Evaluating the effect of pore size for 3d-printed bone scaffolds

Abstract

The present study investigated the influence of pore size of strut-based Diamond and surface-based Gyroid structures for their suitability as medical implants. Samples were made additively from laser powder bed fusion process with a relative density of 0.3 and pore sizes ranging from 300 to 1300 ?m. They were subsequently examined for their manufacturability and mechanical properties. In addition non-Newtonian computational fluid dynamics and discrete phase models were conducted to assess pressure drop and cell seeding efficiency. The results showed that both Diamond and Gyroid had higher as-built densities with smaller pore sizes. However Gyroid demonstrated better manufacturability as its relative density was closer to the as-designed one. In addition based on mechanical testing the elastic modulus was largely unaffected by pore size but post-yielding behaviors differed especially in Diamond. High mechanical sensitivity in Diamond could be explained partly by Finite Element simulations which revealed stress localization in Diamond and more uniform stress distribution in Gyroid. Furthermore we defined the product of the normalized specific surface normalized pressure drop and cell seeding efficiency as the indicator of an optimal pore size in which this factor identified an optimal pore size of approximately 500 ?m for both Diamond and Gyroid. Besides based on such criterion Gyroid exhibited greater applicability as bone scaffolds. In summary this study provides comprehensive assessment of the effect of pore size and demonstrates the efficient estimation of an in-silico framework for evaluating lattice structures as medical implants which could be applied to other lattice architectures. ? 2024 The Authors