Review on manufacture by selective laser melting and properties of titanium based materials for biomedical applications

Abstract

Titanium (Ti) based materials are deemed one type of the best metallic materials for biomedical application due to their good mechanical properties, high biocompatibility and corrosion resistance. Design and manufacture of complex shape Ti parts with good quality are highly demanded in biomedical areas. Selective laser melting (SLM), an additive manufacturing technology, is able to produce bulk structural parts almost without geometric constraints. This review paper briefly evaluates the work carried out on the significance of Ti materials, SLM technology and SLM manufacturing of Ti materials commonly used for biomedical applications including the microstructures and mechanical properties of resulting bulk dense parts (Ti, Ti–24Nb–4Zr–8Sn, Ti–6Al–4V, Ti–6Al–7Nb, Ti–TiC and Ti–TiB) as well as the porous structures successfully produced by SLM. This review indicates that SLM produced Ti materials are able to fulfill the biomechanical and biocompatibility requirements and can be considered as potential candidate for biomedical applications.