Topological Design of a Trabecular Bone Structure With Morphology and Mechanics Control for Additive Manufacturing

Porous metals are found to be suitable as orthopedic scaffolds. However, only limited control over the internal architecture can be achieved using conventional design methods. The architecture with porosity variation strategy mimicking natural bone is critical to gain favorable combination of mechanical and biological properties for orthopedic implants. In this regard, a topology optimization method with customized morphology and mechanical properties derived from the trabecular bone was proposed to design three-dimensional architectures with gradient porosity resembling the porous structure of bone. In particular, the elastic constants for the trabecular bone were better predicted when the bone volume fraction was supplemented with a three-dimensional structural parameter, i.e., degree of anisotropy. These constants were set as the optimization constrains for morphology control. Then the porous titanium structures were manufactured by selective laser melting technology (SLM). The physical characteristics, mechanical properties of the scaffolds were compared systematically. The experimental results revealed that the as-built samples with the proposed method lead to a good match of morphological accuracy and mechanical properties to that of the bone. It demonstrates that the proposed topology optimization method with controlled morphology and mechanical properties provides an efficient manner for the biomimetic design of orthopedic implants.