Controlling of mechanical property in additive manufactured porous titanium by structural control and alloying for bone substitutes

Abstract

Mechanical properties of metallic materials can be controlled by not only alloy design but also constructing appropriate structure. A porous material with adequate pore structure showing appropriate mechanical properties has long been sought as the ideal bone substitute, because it exhibits low Young’s modulus and bone ingrowth. Additive manufacturing (AM) can produce metallic tailor-made products such as artificial bone, several joints etc. The purpose of this work was to control the mechanical property of porous Ti by controlling the porous structure. In addition, the characteristics of Ti-Zr-Fe alloys were also investigated as the materials for the AM. First, porous polylactic acid with rhombicuboctahedron-derived structure was prepared by a 3D printer to determine appropriated structure for bone substitutes. The compressive strength and Young’s modulus was strongly influenced by the minimum cross-sectional area fraction perpendicular to the loading direction. Then the porous Ti with similar structures were prepared by a laser AM. The strength and Young’s modulus were extremely low compared with the expected ones. Then Ti-xmass%Zr-1mass%Fe alloys (x=0, 5, 10) were prepared as the materials for the AM. Vickers hardness increased almost linearly with Zr content by solution hardening. Ideal bone substitutes would be produced by such structural design and alloying.