Improvement of selective laser melting regimes for the fabrication of Ti–6Al–4V porous structures for medical applications

Abstract

This article describes approaches to the optimization of regimes of selective laser melting (SLM) used in the fabrication of porous materials from medical grade Ti–6Al–4V alloy with thin structural elements and a low level of defect porosity. Improved fusion of thin elements based on SLM regimes is achieved due to a significant decrease in the distance between laser passes (from 0.11 to 0.04–0.05 mm). Moreover, the balance between the laser energy density and building rate is compensated by changing the laser speed and laser power. The results of the study of defect porosity and hardness of samples fabricated according to experimental SLM regimes allowed three promising sets of parameters to be defined. One was selected for studying mechanical properties in comparison with the reference SLM regime. In the aims of this study, the samples were developed and fabricated using the structures of rhombic dodecahedron and Voronoi types with a porosity of 70–75 %. The decrease in defect porosity was established at ≈1.8 % to 0.6 %, depending on the SLM regime. This promotes a significant increase in strength properties of the material, including an increase in the yield  strength  of  rhombic dodecahedron from 76 to 132 MPa and the Voronoi structure from 66 to 86 MPa. The low Young module (1–2 GPa) remains, corresponding to the rigidity level of spongy bone tissue.