Fabrication and Mechanical Properties of Porous CP-Ti Using Selective Laser Melting (SLM)

Recently, porous structure has become focus for the study of implantable devices due to the superior ability of osseointegration. Meanwhile, Selective laser melting (SLM), a versatile rapid manufacturing method, is widely utilized in medical restoration field due to its flexibility. Given the information about mechanical properties and manufacturing process of porous structure is limited, the aim of this study is to investigate the manufacturing process and static mechanical properties. Therefore, regular hexahedron structures are designed and fabricated by SLM, also the dimensions and mechanical properties are evaluated by experiments. The results show that manufacturing process and design of structure have significant influence on porosity and mechanical properties. Porous structure would reduce the elastic modulus and yield strength, and the ductility of porous structure is poor than that of solid structure. Moreover, the suitable pore size is >0.7mm. In conclusion, porous implant has great potential to use in bone repair and further study should be done to obtain more information. (paper)