Investigation of permeability and biocompatibility of TPMS structures printed by laser powder bed fusion using Ti64-5Cu alloy for orthopedic implants

Abstract

In order to find better orthopedic implant materials and structures, three triply periodical minimal surface (TPMS) structures using Ti64-5Cu alloy of Gyroid (G), Diamond (D) and Primitive (P) with fixed porosity were prepared by laser powder bed fusion (LPBF). The permeability and flow properties of the three TPMS structures were analyzed based on hydrodynamics simulations, the corrosion resistance and antibacterial properties were compared with those using Ti64 alloy. The results shows that the corrosion current (15.85 μA/cm2) of Ti64-5Cu is significantly lower than that (45.70 μA/cm2) of Ti64, and the antibacterial performance is significantly improved. The material transportation ability of the G structure is 42% higher than D structure. So the G-type TPMS structure based on Ti64-5Cu material has performance as an orthopedic implant in terms of meeting the growth of human bone tissue cells and bone modulus adaptation.