Mechanical Properties of Materially and Geometrically Gradient Cellular Structures Manufactured with SLS 3D Printer Applicable as a Bone Implant
Subject Areas :
additive manufacturing
Ali Salehi
1
,
Alireza Daneshmehr
2
,
Kiyarash Aminfar
3
1 - School of Mechanical Engineering,
University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran
2 - School of Mechanical Engineering,
University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran
3 - School of Mechanical Engineering,
University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran
Received: 2021-05-10
Accepted : 2021-07-10
Published : 2022-03-01
Keywords:
Cellular structures,
Selective Laser Sintering,
Tissue Engineering,
Gradient structures,
Additive Manufacturing,
Triply periodic minimal surface,
Abstract :
Cellular structures are broadly used because of their exclusive properties in tissue engineering. This research proposes a new method, both in design and manufacturing, to engineer their mechanical properties considering gradient material and geometrical features and evaluate the possibility of using created structures as bone implants. Schwarz-primitive surface has been utilized to design cellular structures with different porosities and unit cell sizes. A total of 18 cellular structures were designed and fabricated using the SLS 3D printer with a new unconventional approach in adjusting the settings of the machine, and their mechanical properties were extracted. The structures' internal properties were evaluated using the FESEM. Comparing the mechanical compressive test results showed that adjustments in material and geometry improved mechanical properties (such as the compressive moduli, compressive strength, and yield strength). For instance, in 3 mm samples, the elastic modulus in material gradient and geometrical gradient structures is 20% and 73 % higher than the minimum values of the uniform structure. FESEM imaging revealed that adjusting the absorbed energy by powders (controlled by laser characteristics) leads to the formation of natural voids with diameters in the range of 6 to 144 μm for the gradient structures. Evaluation of the designed structures showed that 6 of them (4 uniform porosity and 2 geometrically gradient) have mechanical behavior of the desired tissue. The research outcomes can assist in optimizing manufactured parts by SLS 3D printers with internal and external controlled properties to obtain more desirable mechanical characteristics, especially for tissue engineering applications.
References:
Maconachie, T., Leary, M., Lozanovski, B., Zhang, X., Qian, M., and Faruque, O., et al. SLM Lattice Structures: Properties, Performance, Applications and Challenges, Mater Des, Vol. 183, 2019, pp. 108137, DOI:10.1016/j.matdes.2019.108137.
Alketan, O., Abu Al-Rub, R., and Rowshan, R., The Effect of Architecture On the Mechanical Properties of Cellular Structures Based On the IWP Minimal Surface, J Mater Res, Vol. 33, 2018, pp. 1–17, DOI:10.1557/jmr.2018.1.
Yoo, D. J., Advanced Porous Scaffold Design Using Multi-Void Triply Periodic Minimal Surface Models with High Surface Area to Volume Ratios, Int J Precis Eng Manuf, Vol. 15, 2014, pp. 1657–66, DOI:10.1007/s12541-014-0516-5.
Liu, Y, Wang, L., Enhanced Stiffness, Strength and Energy Absorption for Co-Continuous Composites with Liquid Filler, Compos Struct, Vol. 128, 2015, pp. 274–83, DOI:10.1016/j.compstruct.2015.03.064.
Qian, T., liu, D., Tian, X., Liu, C., and Wang, H., Microstructure of TA2/TA15 Graded Structural Material by Laser Additive Manufacturing Process, Trans Nonferrous Met Soc China, Vol. 24, 2014, pp. 2729–36, DOI:10.1016/S1003-6326(14)63404-X.
Wadley, H. N. G., Queheillalt, D. T., Thermal Applications of Cellular Lattice Structures. Mater Sci Forum, Vol. 539–543, 2007, pp. 242–7, DOI:10.4028/www.scientific.net/MSF.539-543.242.
Yang, N., Tian, Y., and Zhang, D., Novel Real Function Based Method to Construct Heterogeneous Porous Scaffolds and Additive Manufacturing for Use in Medical Engineering, Med Eng Phys, Vol. 37, 2015, pp. 1037–46, DOI:10.1016/j.medengphy.2015.08.006.
Kapfer, S. C., Hyde, S. T., Mecke, K., Arns, CH., and Schröder Turk, G. E., Minimal Surface Scaffold Designs for Tissue Engineering, Biomaterials, Vol. 32, 2011, pp. 6875–82, DOI:10.1016/j.biomaterials.2011.06.012.
Lu, Y., Zhao, W., Cui, Z., Zhu, H., and Wu, C., The Anisotropic Elastic Behavior of the Widely-Used Triply-Periodic Minimal Surface Based Scaffolds, J Mech Behav Biomed Mater, Vol. 99, 2019, pp. 56–65, DOI:10.1016/j.jmbbm.2019.07.012.
Afshar, M., Anaraki, A. P., Montazerian, H., and Kadkhodapour, J., Additive Manufacturing and Mechanical Characterization of Graded Porosity Scaffolds Designed Based On Triply Periodic Minimal Surface Architectures, J Mech Behav Biomed Mater, Vol. 62, 2016, pp. 481–94, DOI:10.1016/j.jmbbm.2016.05.027.
Li, D., Dai, N., Tang, Y., Dong, G., and Zhao, Y. F., Design and Optimization of Graded Cellular Structures with Triply Periodic Level Surface-Based Topological Shapes, J Mech Des, Vol. 141, 2019, DOI:10.1115/1.4042617.
Wang, S., Zhou, X., Liu, L., Shi, Z., and Hao, Y., On the Design and Properties of Porous Femoral Stems with Adjustable Stiffness Gradient, Med Eng Phys, Vol. 81, 2020, pp. 30–8, DOI:10.1016/j.medengphy.2020.05.003.
Bartolomeu, F., Fonseca, J., Peixinho, N., Alves, N., Gasik, M., and Silva, F. S., et al. Predicting the Output Dimensions, Porosity and Elastic Modulus of Additive Manufactured Biomaterial Structures Targeting Orthopedic Implants, J Mech Behav Biomed Mater, Vol. 99, 2019, pp. 104–17, DOI:10.1016/j.jmbbm.2019.07.023.
Zhao, P., Gu, H., Mi, H., Rao, C., Fu, J., and Turng, L., Fabrication of Scaffolds in Tissue Engineering: A Review, Front Mech Eng, Vol. 13, 2018, pp. 107–19, DOI:10.1007/s11465-018-0496-8.
Dutta, A., Mukherjee, K., Dhara, S., and Gupta, S., Design of Porous Titanium Scaffold for Complete Mandibular Reconstruction: The Influence of Pore Architecture Parameters, Comput Biol Med, Vol. 108, 2019, pp. 31–41, DOI:10.1016/j.compbiomed.2019.03.004.
Sychov, M., Lebedev, L., Dyachenko, S. V., and Nefedova, L. A., Mechanical Properties of Energy-Absorbing Structures with Triply Periodic Minimal Surface Topology, Acta Astronaut, 2017, DOI:10.1016/j.actaastro.2017.12.034.
Chu, C., Graf, G., and Rosen, D., Design for Additive Manufacturing of Cellular Structures. Comput Aided Des Appl, Vol. 5, 2013, pp. 686–96, DOI:10.3722/cadaps.2008.686-696.
Yang, L., Harrysson, O., Cormier, D., West, H., Gong, H., and Stucker, B., Additive Manufacturing of Metal Cellular Structures: Design and Fabrication, JOM, Vol. 67, 2015, DOI:10.1007/s11837-015-1322-y.
Diermann, SH., Lu, M., Zhao, Y., Vandi, L. J., Dargusch, M., and Huang, H., Synthesis, Microstructure, and Mechanical Behaviour of a Unique Porous PHBV Scaffold Manufactured Using Selective Laser Sintering, J Mech Behav Biomed Mater, Vol. 84, 2018, pp. 151–60, DOI:10.1016/j.jmbbm.2018.05.007.
Goodridge, R., Tuck, C., and Hague, R., Laser Sintering of Polyamides and Other Polymers, Prog Mater Sci, Vol. 57, 2012, pp. 229–267, DOI:10.1016/j.pmatsci.2011.04.001.
Mys, N. L., Haverans, T., and Verberckmoes, A. T., Production of Syndiotactic Polystyrene Powder for Part Manufacturing Through SLS, 2014.
Athreya,, Kalaitzidou, K., and Das, S., Processing and Characterization of a Carbon Black-Filled Electrically Conductive Nylon12 Nanocomposite Produced by Selective Laser Sintering, Mater Sci Eng A-Structural Mater Prop Microstruct Process, Mater Sci Eng A-Struct Mater, Vol. 527, 2010, pp. 2637–42, DOI:10.1016/j.msea.2009.12.028.
Toth Taşcău, M., Raduta, A., Stoia, D., and Locovei, C., Influence of the Energy Density on the Porosity of Polyamide Parts in SLS Process. Solid State Phenom 2012, tific.net/SSP.188.400.
Shin, J., Kim, S., Jeong, D., Lee, H. G, Lee, D., and Lim, J. Y., et al. Finite Element Analysis of Schwarz P Surface Pore Geometries for Tissue-Engineered Scaffolds, Math Probl Eng, 2012, pp. 694194, DOI:10.1155/2012/694194.
Panesar, A., Abdi, M., Hickman, D., and Ashcroft, I., Strategies for Functionally Graded Lattice Structures Derived Using Topology Optimisation for Additive Manufacturing, Addit Manuf, Vol. 19, 2018, pp. 81–94, DOI:10.1016/j.addma.2017.11.008.
Montazerian, H., Davoodi, E., Asadi, M., Kadkhodapour, J., and Solati Hashjin, M., Porous Scaffold Internal Architecture Design Based On Minimal Surfaces: A Compromise Between Permeability and Elastic Properties, Mater Des, Vol. 126, 2017, pp. 98–114, DOI:10.1016/j.matdes.2017.04.009.
Maskery, I., Sturm, L., Aremu, A. O., Panesar, A., Williams, C. B., and Tuck, C. J., et al. Insights into The Mechanical Properties of Several Triply Periodic Minimal Surface Lattice Structures Made by Polymer Additive Manufacturing, Polymer (Guildf), Vol. 152, 2018, pp. 62–71, DOI:10.1016/j.polymer.2017.11.049.
Wang, Y., Periodic Surface Modeling for Computer Aided Nano Design, Comput Des, Vol. 39, 2007, pp. 179–89, DOI:10.1016/j.cad.2006.09.005.
Jande, Y. A. C., Erdal, M., and Dag, S., Production of Graded Porous Polyamide Structures and Polyamide-Epoxy Composites Via Selective Laser Sintering, J Reinf Plast Compos, Vol. 33, 2014, pp. 1017–36. DOI:10.1177/0731684414522536.
Raheem, Z., Designation: D695 − 15 Standard Test Method for Compressive Properties of Rigid Plastics 1, 2019, DOI:10.1520/D0695-15.
Hsieh, W. C., Chang, C. P., Lin, S. M., Morphology and characterization of 3d Micro-Porous Structured Chitosan Scaffolds of Tissue Engineering, Colloids Surf B Biointerfaces, Vol. 57, 2007, pp. 250–5, DOI:10.1016/j.colsurfb.2007.02.004.
Caulfield B, McHugh PE, Lohfeld S. Dependence of mechanical properties of polyamide components on build parameters in the SLS process. J Mater Process Technol 2007;182:477–88. DOI:10.1016/j.jmatprotec.2006.09.007.
Witte, F., Hort, N., Vogt, C., Cohen, S., Kainer, K. U., and Willumeit, R., et al. Degradable Biomaterials Based On Magnesium Corrosion, Curr Opin Solid State Mater Sci, Vol. 12, 2008, pp. 63–72, DOI:10.1016/j.cossms.2009.04.001.
Le Geros, R. Z., Le Geros, J. P., Dense Hydroxyapatite, An Introd. to Bioceram., Vol. 1, World Scientific, 1993, pp. 139–80, DOI:10.1142/9789814317351_0009.