Architectural bone parameters and the relationship to titanium lattice design for powder bed fusion additive manufacturing

TL;DR

This paper reviews the relationship between natural bone microarchitecture and titanium lattice designs produced by powder bed fusion, highlighting current technological limitations and guiding future implant design improvements.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive comparison of natural bone architecture with titanium lattice structures, offering design insights for improved additive manufacturing of bone implants.

Findings

Titanium lattices have porosity from 15% to 97%, mostly 50-70%.

Cortical bone porosity is 5-15%, comparable to certain titanium lattices.

Trabecular bone porosity is 70-90%, with trabeculae 120-200 μm thick.

Abstract

Additive manufacturing (AM) of titanium (Ti) and Ti-6Al-4V lattices has been proposed for bone implants and augmentation devices. Ti and Ti-6Al-4V have favourable biocompatibility, corrosion resistance and fatigue strength for bone applications; yet, the optimal parameters for Ti-6Al-4V lattice designs corresponding to the natural micro- and meso-scale architecture of human trabecular and cortical bone are not well understood. A comprehensive review was completed to compare the natural lattice architecture properties in human bone to Ti and Ti-6Al-4V lattice structures for bone replacement and repair. Ti and Ti-6Al-4V lattice porosity has varied from 15% to 97% with most studies reporting a porosity between 50-70%. Cortical bone is roughly 5-15% porous and lattices with 50-70% porosity are able to achieve comparable stiffness, compressive strength, and yield strength. Trabecular bone has a reported porosity range from 70-90%, with trabecular thickness varying from 120-200 {\mu}m. Existing powder bed fusion technologies have produced strut and wall thicknesses ranging from 200-1669 {\mu}m. This suggests limited overlap between current AM of Ti and Ti-6Al-4V lattice structures and trabecular bone architecture, indicating that replicating natural trabecular bone parameters with latticing is prohibitively challenging. This review contributes to the body of knowledge by identifying the correspondence of Ti and Ti-6Al-4V lattices to the natural parameters of bone microarchitectures, and provides further guidance on the design and AM recommendations towards addressing recognized performance gaps with powder bed fusion technologies.