MECHANICAL INVESTIGATION OF NOVEL BIOMIMETIC CELLS WITH HYBRID POROSITIES FOR ORTHOPEDIC APPLICATIONS

Abstract

The importance and reliability of implants, have brought biomedical engineers and material scientists together to aid orthopedic specialists to increase their durability and efficiency. Porous materials have been used diversely in biomedical applications namely, scaffold designs and orthopedic implants. However, satisfying all biological as well as mechanical conditions of the human body has never been achieved. Hence, in this paper, to mimic the hierarchical nature of human bone, a simple Hollow Cube unit cell was subjected to twelve different sets of micropores in its struts, leading to an increased internal surface area and overall porosity. Thus, 3D models of the unit cells with hybrid porosities were studied using finite elements method. It was observed that with adding micropores inside already porous unit cells, about 25% decrease was obtained in elastic modulus, ranging between 7.9[Formula: see text]GPa to 11[Formula: see text]GPa and, roughly 100% increase in internal surface area and surface-to-volume ratio, moreover, the porosity rose from 64% to 87%. Sequentially, proper hierarchical unit cells were evaluated according to elastic modulus and failure analyses. In the end, to validate, the numerical and experimental results were compared and 9% error was observed between them.