Fuzzy modeling and characterization of mechanical and biological properties of a selective laser melting shape: A comprehensive study

Abstract

The bone scaffold is a porous structure that possesses suitable biological and mechanical properties similar to those of natural bone, thereby providing a suitable substrate for bone growth. The scaffold plays a temporary role in the bone repair process and is composed of degradable material that gradually degrades over time to enable new bone growth and replacement. The scaffolds are implanted using bone morphogenetics of transplanted bone-protein (BMP-7) and implanted subcutaneously to assess biological properties and tissue growth. This study demonstrates the ability to design and fabricate a titanium scaffold with a porous architecture using the Selective Laser Melting (SLM) method, employing two different geometries. The scaffolds' mechanical properties are assessed via a compression test, and the results are utilized for finite element analysis (FEA), predicting the designed metallic scaffold's optimal geometric shape and porosity percentage. The biological response of the scaffolds is evaluated via simulated body fluid (SBF) and phosphate buffer saline (PBS) analyses. The findings indicate that the 8-sided scaffold has superior mechanical and biological features compared to the circular and 6-sided geometries. To predict the scaffold's specifications before conducting the experiment, a fuzzy modeling system is used to model the effect of inputs such as weight percentage, elastic modulus, porosity, and Poisson ratio on the compressive strength output variable.