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Microstructure and mechanical properties of additive manufactured porous Ti–33Nb–4Sn scaffolds for orthopaedic applications

  • Tissue Engineering Constructs and Cell Substrates
  • Original Research
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Abstract

Customized porous titanium alloys have become the emerging materials for orthopaedic implant applications. In this work, diamond and rhombic dodecahedron porous Ti-33Nb-4Sn scaffolds were fabricated by selective laser melting (SLM). The phase, microstructure and defects characteristics were investigated systematically and correlated to the effects of pore structure, unit cell size and processing parameter on the mechanical properties of the scaffolds. Fine β phase dendrites were obtained in Ti-33Nb-4Sn scaffolds due to the fast solidification velocity in SLM process. The compressive and bending strength of the scaffolds decrease with the decrease of strut size and diamond structures showed both higher compressive and bending strength than the dodecahedron structures. Diamond Ti-33Nb-4Sn scaffold with compressive strength of 76 MPa, bending strength of 127 MPa and elastic modulus of 2.3 GPa was achieved by SLM, revealing the potential of Ti-33Nb-4Sn scaffolds for applications on orthopaedic implant.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to acknowledge financial supports from the National Key R&D Program of China (No. 2017YFB0306300), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 51602350), the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (2017M610505), the Key R&D Program of Hunan Province, China (No. 2016JC2003), the Natural Science Foundation of Hunan Province, China (No. 2018JJ3654) and the fund of State Key Laboratory of Powder Metallurgy, Central South University.

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  1. State Key Laboratory of Powder Metallurgy, Central South University, Changsha, 410083, China

    Xiaofan Cheng, Shichao Liu, Chao Chen, Wei Chen, Min Liu, Ruidi Li, Xiaoyong Zhang & Kechao Zhou

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  1. Xiaofan Cheng
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Correspondence to Chao Chen or Xiaoyong Zhang.

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Cheng, X., Liu, S., Chen, C. et al. Microstructure and mechanical properties of additive manufactured porous Ti–33Nb–4Sn scaffolds for orthopaedic applications. J Mater Sci: Mater Med 30, 91 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10856-019-6292-0

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