Characterization of Porous Scaffolds Fabricated by Joining Stacking Based Laser Micro-Spot Welding (JS-LMSW) for Tissue Engineering Applications

Abstract

A novel manufacturing approach was used to fabricate metallic scaffolds. A calibration of the laser cutting process was performed using the kerf width compensation in the calculations of the tool trajectory. Welding defects were studied through X-ray microtomography. Penetration depth and width resulted in relative errors of 9.4%, 1.0%, respectively. Microhardness was also measured, and the microstructure was studied in the base material. The microhardness values obtained were 400 HV, 237 HV, and 215 HV for the base material, HAZ, and fusion zone, respectively. No significant difference was found between the microhardness measurement along with different height positions of the scaffold. The scaffolds’ dimensions and porosity were measured, their internal architecture was observed with micro-computed tomography. The results indicated that geometries with dimensions under 500 µm with different shapes resulted in relative errors of ~2.7%. The fabricated scaffolds presented an average compressive modulus ~13.15 GPa, which is close to cortical bone properties. The proposed methodology showed a promising future in bone tissue engineering applications.