Compression properties of cellular iron lattice structures used to mimic bone characteristics

Recently, cellular materials made by the repetition of unit cells, that is, iron lattices have become appealing to mimic the structure of bone. The aim of the study is to choose the most adequate lattice structures, which have the compressive mechanical properties closer to the ones of bone, in the...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers. Part L, Journal of materials, design and applications Journal of materials, design and applications, 2024-11, Vol.238 (11), p.2217-2232
Main Authors: Nogueira, Pedro, Magrinho, João PG, Silva, Maria B, de Deus, Augusto M, Vaz, Maria F
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Cellular structure
Compressive properties
Computer simulation
Cubic lattice
Density
Finite element method
Iron
Mechanical properties
Modulus of elasticity
Size effects
Specific gravity
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Recently, cellular materials made by the repetition of unit cells, that is, iron lattices have become appealing to mimic the structure of bone. The aim of the study is to choose the most adequate lattice structures, which have the compressive mechanical properties closer to the ones of bone, in the perspective of their use as temporary implants. Five types of unit cells were selected, such as, cubic (C), truncated octahedron (TO), truncated cubic (TC), rhombicuboctahedron (RCO), and rhombitrucated cuboctahedron (RTCO). The mechanical properties were assessed by numerical simulations with a finite-element analysis. The size effect was studied with the comparison of results among samples with different numbers of unit cells. Simulations covered a wide range of relative densities. Graded dense-in and dense-out configurations were constructed with lattices of types RTCO and TO, being the unit cells, themselves graded. Lattice structures RTCO and TO were found to be stable at every relative density studied, while C, TC and RCO lattices are unstable at low densities. The evaluation of size effects was not conclusive, which could be biased by other factors. The Young's modulus of RTCO and TO lattices enable to reproduce the properties of both trabecular and cortical bone, with an appropriate choice of the relative density. To mimic trabecular bone, only RTCO and TO structures with low relative densities, can be used, while arrangements of C, TC and RCO cells can only replicate the properties of cortical bone. Graded cells may have the same properties as non-graded with lower density.
ISSN:1464-4207
2041-3076
DOI:10.1177/14644207241241799