Revival of pure titanium for dynamically loaded porous implants using additive manufacturing

Ruben Wauthle; Seyed Mohammad Ahmadi; Saber Amin Yavari; Michiel Mulier; Amir Abbas Zadpoor; Harrie Weinans; Jan Van Humbeeck; Jean-Pierre Kruth; Jan Schrooten

doi:10.1016/j.msec.2015.05.001

Revival of pure titanium for dynamically loaded porous implants using additive manufacturing

Mater Sci Eng C Mater Biol Appl. 2015 Sep:54:94-100. doi: 10.1016/j.msec.2015.05.001. Epub 2015 May 5.

Authors

Ruben Wauthle¹, Seyed Mohammad Ahmadi², Saber Amin Yavari², Michiel Mulier³, Amir Abbas Zadpoor², Harrie Weinans⁴, Jan Van Humbeeck⁵, Jean-Pierre Kruth⁶, Jan Schrooten⁷

Affiliations

¹ KU Leuven, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Section Production Engineering, Machine Design and Automation (PMA), Celestijnenlaan 300B, 3001 Leuven, Belgium; 3D Systems - LayerWise NV, Grauwmeer 14, 3001 Leuven, Belgium. Electronic address: ruben.wauthle@3dsystems.com.
² Faculty of Mechanical, Maritime, and Materials Engineering, Delft University of Technology (TU Delft), Mekelweg 2, 2628 CD, Delft, The Netherlands.
³ KU Leuven, Department of Orthopaedics, Weligerveld 1, 3212 Pellenberg, Belgium.
⁴ Faculty of Mechanical, Maritime, and Materials Engineering, Delft University of Technology (TU Delft), Mekelweg 2, 2628 CD, Delft, The Netherlands; Department of Orthopedics & department of Rheumatology, UMC Utrecht, Heidelberglaan 100, 3584 CX, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
⁵ KU Leuven, Department of Materials Engineering, Kasteelpark Arenberg 44, PB 2450, 3001 Leuven, Belgium.
⁶ KU Leuven, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Section Production Engineering, Machine Design and Automation (PMA), Celestijnenlaan 300B, 3001 Leuven, Belgium.
⁷ KU Leuven, Department of Materials Engineering, Kasteelpark Arenberg 44, PB 2450, 3001 Leuven, Belgium; KU Leuven, Prometheus, Division of Skeletal Tissue Engineering, PB 813, O&N1, Herestraat 49, 3000 Leuven, Belgium.

PMID: 26046272
DOI: 10.1016/j.msec.2015.05.001

Abstract

Additive manufacturing techniques are getting more and more established as reliable methods for producing porous metal implants thanks to the almost full geometrical and mechanical control of the designed porous biomaterial. Today, Ti6Al4V ELI is still the most widely used material for porous implants, and none or little interest goes to pure titanium for use in orthopedic or load-bearing implants. Given the special mechanical behavior of cellular structures and the material properties inherent to the additive manufacturing of metals, the aim of this study is to investigate the properties of selective laser melted pure unalloyed titanium porous structures. Therefore, the static and dynamic compressive properties of pure titanium structures are determined and compared to previously reported results for identical structures made from Ti6Al4V ELI and tantalum. The results show that porous Ti6Al4V ELI still remains the strongest material for statically loaded applications, whereas pure titanium has a mechanical behavior similar to tantalum and is the material of choice for cyclically loaded porous implants. These findings are considered to be important for future implant developments since it announces a potential revival of the use of pure titanium for additively manufactured porous implants.

Keywords: Additive manufacturing; Fatigue; Porous biomaterials; Selective laser melting; Titanium.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Alloys
Biocompatible Materials / chemistry
Compressive Strength
Lasers
Materials Testing
Porosity
Prostheses and Implants*
Surface Properties
Tantalum / chemistry
Titanium / chemistry*
Weight-Bearing

Substances

Alloys
Biocompatible Materials
titanium alloy (TiAl6V4)
Tantalum
Titanium