40th International Conference on Production Engineering of Serbia
ICPES 2025
Nis, Serbia, 18-19th september 2025
RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN POROSITY AND MECHANICAL PERFORMANCE OF CUSTOM LATTICE-LIKE BONE SCAFFOLDS
Rajko Turudija, Jovan Arandelovic, Miloš Stojkovic, Jelena Stojkovic, Nikola Korunovic
DOI: 10.46793/ICPES25.439T
Bone scaffolds for the treatment of large defects serve two primary functions: to replicate the mechanical properties of natural bone, particularly elasticity, thereby preventing complications such as stress shielding and implant failure, and to promote bone regeneration by incorporating bioactive agents that stimulate new tissue growth. To retain these substances in place and to prevent their diffusion or migration away from the targeted site, scaffolds must be sufficiently porous to allow substance delivery and vascularization but also mechanically stable enough to replicate the properties of the bone region they are intended for. This work presents an analysis of experimental results obtained by mechanical testing of custom-made lattice-like scaffolds, focusing on their porosity and mechanical performance. Porosity of scaffolds was varied by varying the design parameters of a custom CAD model of lattice-like scaffold (such as strut diameter, strut angle, etc.). These scaffolds were fabricated using SLS 3D printing technology and tested under uniaxial compression using a universal testing machine. The results reveal an almost linear negative correlation between scaffold porosity and compressive strength, which aligns with theoretical expectations. It was also observed that scaffolds with very similar porosity values (e.g., 76% vs. 77%) can exhibit significant differences in mechanical strength, with the difference sometimes exceeding 600 N, indicating that strut arrangement and geometry also play a crucial role beyond porosity alone
Lattice-like scaffolds, bioengineering, mechanical properties, porosity
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