Superior Lightness-Strength and biocompatibility of bio-inspired heterogeneous glass sponge Ti6Al4V lattice structure fabricated via laser powder bed fusion

• Published in: Materials & design 2024-08, Vol.244, p.113209, Article 113209
• Main Authors: Li, Simeng, Zhu, Hao, Li, Yan, Chen, Qiaoyu, Jiang, Jiawei, Ma, Bowen, Shu, Zixing, He, Meng, Li, Dongdong, Hao, Liang
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Biocompatibility; Implants; Laser powder bed fusion; Lattice structures; Mechanical property
• ISSN: 0264-1275
• DOI: 10.1016/j.matdes.2024.113209

[Display omitted] •Bio-inspired heterogeneous Ti6Al4V Glass sponge lattice structures with enhanced mechanical strength and energy absorption ability can be successfully fabricated by Laser powder bed fusion.•The glass sponge lattice structure shows the strongest compressive strength, and energy absorption ability of 58 MPa and 23.84 J/cm3, respectively.•Finite element simulations show that the compressive deformation of LSs under different strain conditions are consistent with the experimental results.•Glass sponge lattice structure exhibit satisfactory biocompatibility while effectively modulating biological processes such as osteogenesis, angiogenesis, and immunoregulation. Ti6Al4V lattice structures (LSs) have great potentials in medical implants due to their excellent biocompatibility and high strength-to-weight ratio. This paper investigates the manufacturability and performance of unique Ti6Al4V heterogeneous glass sponge (GS) LSs fabricated via laser powder bed fusion (LPBF). Compared with the commonly used LSs, including Cross, body-centered cubic (BCC), Diamond and octet-truss (OCT), Ti6Al4V GS LSs exhibit the strongest compressive strength and energy absorption ability of 58 MPa and 23.84 J/cm3, respectively. Finite element (FE) models are established to evaluate the macroscopic deformation, microscopic stress and strain evolution in the solid struts of five different LSs. Local plastic stresses are found to generate near the nodes of Cross, BCC, Diamond and OCT LSs, thus forming plastic hinges, while the GS LSs can evenly transfer local plastic stresses to the grid-like rods of each layer, eventually showing a uniform stress distribution. Moreover, all the LSs are featured with satisfactory biocompatibility concerning cytotoxicity, cell proliferation, and cell attachment. The results indicate that the Ti6Al4V GS LSs can address the conflict between lightness and strength simultaneously, thus achieving excellent energy absorption performance, compressive properties and great biocompatibility, endowing it with tremendous application potential in the field of medical implants.