Additive manufacturing of porous Ti-based alloys for biomedical applications – a review

Abstract

Titanium (together with its alloys) has become 'king' among biometals and has demonstrated to function perfectly in the human body. Despite its well-known celebrated biocompatibility properties, it has a major drawback due to its relatively high Elastic modulus as compared to bony tissue. Using additive manufacturing (AM) methods to manufacture porous Ti-based implants by a process called porosification would greatly reduce the Elastic modulus to a value suitable for biomedical applications.

Varying the processing parameters of AM methods could lead to production of graded pore implants. Scanning speed was identified as the major influencing parameter which could be varied to produce pore-graded implants. Even though the fundamental principles of manufacturing porous Ti-implants are very well grounded in literature, the optimum pore size and corresponding mechanical properties for bone ingrowth are yet to be determined.