3D Printed Porous Metal

You will get efficient and thoughtful service from JINTAI.

Mott proudly stands as the global leader in gradient structure and controlled porosity, achieved through the innovative application of 3D printed porous metal. Leveraging additive manufacturing, we have mastered the art of designing intricate components that can be entirely or partially composed of porous or lattice structures. 

Our cutting-edge, patent-pending process empowers us to collaborate with you in the creation of custom heat exchanger parts. These parts exhibit an unprecedented blend of features and performance capabilities that were once considered unattainable, making them ideal for industries requiring precise thermal management and structural integrity. 

Whether you are in aerospace, automotive, or any other sector, Mott&#;s expertise in 3D printed porous metal technology opens new horizons for your engineering needs.

Abstract

Design an implant similar to the human bone is one of the critical problems in bone tissue engineering. Metal porous scaffolds have good prospects in bone tissue replacement due to their matching elastic modulus, better strength, and biocompatibility. However, traditional processing methods are challenging to fabricate scaffolds with a porous structure, limiting the development of porous scaffolds. With the advancement of additive manufacturing (AM) and computer-aided technologies, the development of porous metal scaffolds also ushers in unprecedented opportunities. In recent years, many new metal materials and innovative design methods are used to fabricate porous scaffolds with excellent mechanical properties and biocompatibility. This article reviews the research progress of porous metal scaffolds, and introduces the AM technologies used in porous metal scaffolds. Then the applications of different metal materials in bone scaffolds are summarized, and the advantages and limitations of various scaffold design methods are discussed. Finally, we look forward to the development prospects of AM in porous metal scaffolds.

Keywords:

metal material, additive manufacturing, porous scaffold, design, bone tissue engineering

Introduction

Bone defects caused by pathologies such as fracture, bone tumor, or external trauma are among the main problems in clinical treatment (Moiduddin et al., ). Autologous bone transplantation is considered to be a good choice, but the mismatched performance of different bone sites and the limited number of useful bone grafts limit the application of autologous bone transplantation (Henkel et al., ). In contrast, allogeneic bone transplantation has an obvious risk of immune rejection and infection, which affects bone formation and is prone to bone resorption. Therefore, it is ideal to seek natural bone replacement for bone transplantation in orthopedics.

As an alternative material, porous metal scaffolds avoid a series of adverse reactions in natural bone grafting and have gradually attracted researchers&#; attention. To simulate the mechanical properties and biocompatibility of real bone, porous metal scaffolds not only have interconnected porous structures but also have good mechanical properties and biocompatibility (Li et al., a). Mechanical properties mainly include better yield strength, matching elastic modulus, and better fatigue strength (Yuan et al., ). Common biomedical metal materials such as Ti and Ti alloys can completely meet bone implants needs in terms of strength. Nevertheless, the elastic modulus of dense metals is much greater than that of human bones, which is prone to bone resorption and leads to bone loosening in the human body (Bundy, ). The porous scaffolds can obtain matching elastic modulus with human bone by adjusting the pore size and porosity (Kelly et al., ), and at the same time have better yield and fatigue strength (Chen et al., ). Porous metal scaffolds should also have good biocompatibility, which not only can promote cell attachment, growth, proliferation, and differentiation, but also facilitates the transport of nutrients and metabolic wastes (Little et al., ; Saint-Pastou Terrier and Gasque, ).

Traditional processing methods are challenging to prepare porous metal scaffolds with complex structures, while additive manufacturing (AM) technology can prepare the scaffolds with controllable structures, shape, and properties (Wang et al., a). Thus AM is one of the most effective methods to prepare porous metal scaffolds. The design of porous metal scaffolds is another crucial problem because scaffold features such as unit type, pore size, porosity, and distribution have significantly influence on their mechanical properties and biocompatibility. Therefore, this article introduces the AM technologies for preparing metal scaffolds and summaries the research progress in relative metal materials, including non-biodegradable metals (Ti alloys, Ta alloy, and stainless steel), and biodegradable metals (Fe, Mg alloy, and Zn alloy). Besides, we review the structural characteristics of porous metal scaffolds and their design methods in detail, and evaluate the advantages and limitations of these methods. Finally, we prospect the future development direction of bone scaffolds.

Basic Requirements for Metal Porous Scaffolds

For metal implants, the elastic modulus is a very important mechanical performance (Ngo et al., ). Large elastic modulus differences between the implants and the bone tissue can result in &#;stress shielding&#; effect, which will gradually trigger the loosening of the implant, finally leading to the failure of implant. As known to all, solid metals has much higher elastic modulus than bone tissue (Li et al., a). Obviously, the solid metals are not suitable to use as implants. Thus porous structures were designed in order to reduce the elastic modulus of the solid metals. Metal porous implants should be non-toxic, non-rejection, and non-allergenic, which requires us to select suitable metal as raw material (Roseti et al., ). Good biocompatibility is also reflected in the reasonable porous shape and distribution, which can promote the adhesion and growth of bone tissue cells (Shor et al., ). In addition, metal porous scaffolds should have good wear and corrosion resistance. Worse wear resistance can cause loosening of the scaffolds, and metal particles caused by wear or metal ions formed due to the corrosion effect can lead to tissue reactions and lesions (Wang et al., a). Furthermore, the scaffolds should have good machinability, and the structures can be obtained using existing processing technologies.

Summary and Outlook

Additive manufacturing technology provides unprecedented opportunities for the production of customized biomedical implants. With the development of materials science and computer-assisted technologies, metal porous scaffolds produced by AM, additive manufacturing have been applied in clinical practice. In the future, the preparation of porous metal scaffolds by AM, additive manufacturing still has great potential in the following fields.

• (1)

  If you are looking for more details, kindly visit Multi-Layer Porous Metal Components Factory.

  The metal scaffolds with degradable materials can effectively reduce the subsequent maintenance problems of the implant. However, the most widely used materials for metal porous scaffolds are still non-degradable metals such as pure Ti, Ti alloys, 316L and so on. So it is particularly important to design and prepare new biodegradable materials that matching degradation rate with bone tissue.

• (2)

  Real bone in the human body has gradient microstructures; thus the development of porous scaffolds with gradient structure is a future development trend. At present, it is challenging to obtain a gradient scaffold with better performance with a single design method. Therefore, combination methods of topology optimization, CAD and minimal surface and so on. Can be tried to design the gradient structure in the future.

• (3)

  Surface modification can effectively improve the osteogenesis, bacteriostasis, and biocompatibility of porous scaffolds. At present, preparation of inorganic and organic surfaces, or changing the surface morphologies of bone implants are the main surface modification methods. In the future, new surface modification materials and methods used for porous scaffolds should be developed in order to improve its biocompatibility or realize the treatment of certain diseases.

• (4)

  At present, most of the researches on the biocompatibility of the scaffold only stays in cell experiments, which lacks accurate evaluation of the scaffold performances. Thus effective in vivo osteogenic experiment should be introduced and biological standards should be established to more scientifically evaluate the osteogenic ability of porous scaffolds.

• (5)

  4D printing is a concept that has emerged in recent years, which generally refers to programmatical change in shape and function of 3D printed scaffolds over time. The change can adjust the mechanical properties or structure characteristics of the porous scaffolds and expand its functions and applications, providing a broader prospect for the development of porous scaffolds.

Author Contributions

YT carried out the conception of the idea of the manuscript. ZQ and JL provided the data and advice. BW and GL collected and collated the data. YL wrote the original draft. EL reviewed and revised the original draft. KX and CL provided guidance for the revision of the manuscrip. LW provided the financial support for the project to this publication. All the authors contributed to the article and approved the submitted version.

Conflict of Interest

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Footnotes

Funding. The authors would like to acknowledge the financial supports provided by National Science Foundation under Grant No. , the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (Grant No. M), High-level Innovation team and Outstanding Scholars Program of Colleges and Universities in Guangxi: innovative team of basic and Clinical Comprehensive Research on Bone and Joint degenerative Disease, Project of Science and Technology Innovation Base under the Central Guidance of local Science and Technology Development (Guike Jizi [] No. 198): Science and Technology Innovation Base for basic Research and Transformation of bone and joint degenerative diseases.

Contact us to discuss your requirements of Reliable Sintered Filter Supplier. Our experienced sales team can help you identify the options that best suit your needs.