The select of internal architecture for porous Ti alloy scaffold: A compromise between mechanical properties and permeability

With the hope to provide guidance to the design of additive manufactured porous orthopaedic implants and bone substitutes, three different topological porous structures (primitive, gyroid, bcc) with a porosity of 65% were designed and fabricated by selective laser melting using Ti-6Al-4V powders. The compressive and tensile properties of the porous scaffolds were investigated using quasistatic compression and tensile tests, respectively. Deformation behaviors of porous structures were analyzed by finite element simulation at different compression strains and loading condition. The Gyroid scaffolds have the highest compressive strength and tensile strength of 392.1 MPa and 321.3 MPa, respectively, almost two times higher than that of BCC scaffolds. Permeability of the scaffolds was measured using the falling head method and compared with the results of the computational fluid dynamics. The results showed that the permeability of the Gyroid scaffolds was about 20% that of the BCC scaffolds. It was suggested internal architecture for porous Ti alloy scaffold could significantly affect the mechanical stress and permeability. (C) 2020 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.