Interactive design and manufacturing of a Voronoi-based biomimetic bone scaffold for morphological characterization

Abstract

The purpose of this work is the morphological.11 characterization of a Voronoi-based biomimetic bone scaffold, developed through an interactive generative design process and obtained by an additive manufacturing system. In particular, the assessment of its characteristics was carried out according to the main indices of trabecular bone structures. Therefore, a biomimetic cubic bone scaffold ( $$10\times 10\times 10$$ mm) with controlled porosity (P% = 80%) and mean pores size ( $$D_{p}=0.800\,\hbox { mm}$$ ) was first designed and then manufactured with Ti6Al4V by means of EOSINT M270, a direct metal laser sintering system. The surface morphology of the scaffold was analyzed by a Scanning Electron Microscopy, equipped with an Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectrometry, while the internal morphology was examined through a high-resolution micro-CT SkyScan 1172. Finally, the morphometric assessment of the scaffold was carried out using ImageJ with BoneJ, a tool for image bone analysis, by measuring the main indices for the characterization of trabecular bone structure. The Ti6Al4V scaffold, even though with smaller porosity (P% = 73%) and mean pores size ( $$D_{p}=0.695 \hbox { mm}$$ ) with respect to the expected values, was successfully fabricated with fully interconnected porous architecture and intact trabecular skeleton. Moreover, the main indices for the characterization of trabecular bone structure were well congruent with the actual natural bone. A viable and reproducible method to fabricate Ti6Al4V biomimetic bone scaffolds, with controlled porosity and mean pores size, was presented. These kind of scaffolds allowed reproducing the actual architecture of the trabecular bone and could be suitable for Bone Tissue Engineering, according to specific surgical requirements.