Additively Manufactured Scaffolds for Bone Tissue Engineering and the Prediction of their Mechanical Behavior: A Review

Abstract

Additive manufacturing (AM), nowadays commonly known as 3D printing, is a revolutionary materials processing technology, particularly suitable for the production of low-volume parts with high shape complexities and often with multiple functions. As such, it holds great promise for the fabrication of patient-specific implants. In recent years, remarkable progress has been made in implementing AM in the bio-fabrication field. This paper presents an overview on the state-of-the-art AM technology for bone tissue engineering (BTE) scaffolds, with a particular focus on the AM scaffolds made of metallic biomaterials. It starts with a brief description of architecture design strategies to meet the biological and mechanical property requirements of scaffolds. Then, it summarizes the working principles, advantages and limitations of each of AM methods suitable for creating porous structures and manufacturing scaffolds from powdered materials. It elaborates on the finite-element (FE) analysis applied to predict the mechanical behavior of AM scaffolds, as well as the effect of the architectural design of porous structure on its mechanical properties. The review ends up with the authors’ view on the current challenges and further research directions.

3D printing of high-strength bioscaffolds for the synergistic treatment of bone cancer

“…Compared with inorganic bioceramics and polymeric scaffolds, metal scaffolds, such as Fe scaffolds, have an excellent fatigue resistance and a high compressive strength, which are suitable for repairing load-bearing bone defects 4 . Although Fe-based materials have been demonstrated to possess good biocompatibility and biosafety [5][6][7][8] , pure Fe materials still have a number of deficiencies in practical applications, such as a rather low degree of degradation, lack of bioactivity and poor boneforming performance 9,10 . In contrast, inorganic CaSiO 3 bioceramics have fast ion release kinetics due to their low value of activation 11 .…”

The effect of 3D printing on the morphological and mechanical properties of polycaprolactone filament and scaffold

“…On the other hand, the printing parameters like pressure and printing speed influence the final geometrical and mechanical properties of 3D printed structures through changing its filament properties. Geometrical specifications of a scaffold have a direct effect on its biological and mechanical properties, and the microstructure properties of scaffold have considered repeatedly in literature . In the microextrusion 3D printing process, a microstructure is generated with specific filament shapes, which are fabricated by special printing path that must be printed accurately.…”

Mechanical Properties and In Vitro Behavior of Additively Manufactured and Functionally Graded Ti6Al4V Porous Scaffolds

“…Other techniques, such as implicit surface modelling [31][32][33] and topology optimized scaffolds [18,34], are also gaining in popularity. The fabrication of such complex structures has recently become feasible with the advances in additive manufacturing [35].…”