ADDITIVELY MANUFACTURED Ti6Al4V LATTICE STRUCTURES FOR BIOMEDICAL APPLICATIONS

Abstract

Additive Manufacturing (AM) is a rapidly developing technology which provides opportunity to build up complex geometries due to the freedom of manufacturing. Lattice structures, three-dimensional opencelled structures composed of one or more repeating unit cells, can be produced with unique mechanical, thermal, acoustic, biomedical and electrical properties by optimization of type and dimension of unit cell and additive manufacturing parameters. Lattice structures provide lightweight and porous parts which are widely preferable in biomedical applications. Different type of lattice structures have been used for obtaining bone like implant surface to accelerate osseointegration. There are many studies in this field, but the ideal designs and dimensional accuracy of the various lattice structures for biomedical field have not been completely reached. In this study, octahedral, star and dodecahedron lattice structures with thin strut diameter were manufactured by laser powder bed fusion technology (LPBF) by Ti6Al4V powder. Cubic and plate samples were built on z-direction and their top and side surfaces were inspected in terms of topographical characteristics and dimensional accuracy by scanning electron microscope. Dimensional accuracy has been found to tend to shrinkage behavior for all lattice structures. The best dimensional accuracy was obtained from octahedral lattice structure comparing with strut diameters.

INVESTIGATION OF THE LOAD-BEARING CAPACITY OF Co-Cr LATTICE STRUCTURES FABRICATED BY SELECTIVE LASER MELTING

“…The geometry of these structures can be easily controlled so that it can be used to adjust the mechanical properties [4]. These lightweight structures have great specifications such as high specific strength and good energy absorption capacity [5,6]. Moreover, when they are used as implant structures, they lead to alleviate the stressshielding problem by decreasing the elasticity modulus of the structures [7].…”