A wide range of advanced biomaterials are being currently designed to mimic the physical as well as the chemical composition of a bone by forming polymer blends, polymer-ceramic and polymer-degradable metal composites. The available biomaterials lack the adequate mechanical strength to withstand the static and dynamic loads while maintaining sufficient porosity to facilitate cell in-growth and vascularization during bone tissue regeneration.
Despite significant efforts, the repair of large segmental bone defects is a substantial clinical challenge which requires bone substitute materials or a bone graft. There are more than 2 million bone grafting procedures performed annually in the US alone. Verified experimental and FEM results offered an excellent possible unit-cell geometry to be applied in design and manufacturing of BTE scaffolds. The specimens were exposed to mechanical compression test and the results were validated with the finite element analysis (FEA). Designed scaffolds were fabricated using Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) 3D Printer and dimensional features of scaffolds were evaluated by comparing the designed scaffolds with scanning electron microscope (SEM). On the other hand, for considering the porosity effects, three different unit-cell size have been chosen, and a total of nine scaffolds have been designed. Hence, the geometry structures of the unit-cell have been selected in Cube, Cylinder and Hexagonal prism. The purpose of this research is extraction of optimal architecture to achieve maximum mechanical strength of BTE scaffolds. Secondly, from the design perspective, design porous scaffold plays a decisive role in BTE since scaffold design with an appropriate architectures have to lead to proper strength and porosity.
In the field of BTE, the possibility of generating complex porous structures with high precision compared to typical manufacturing methods has made AM the leading option for scaffold production. Firstly, from the perspective of manufacturing, Additive manufacturing (AM) technology has achieved great attraction in the field of BTE during the past few years. The design and manufacturing three-dimensional scaffolds are a significant concept in bone tissue engineering (BTE).