Development of biodegradable customized tibial scaffold with advanced architected materials utilizing additive manufacturing

Nikolaos Kladovasilakis; Paschalis Charalampous; Apostolos Boumpakis; Theodora Kontodina; Konstantinos Tsongas; Dimitrios Tzetzis; Ioannis Kostavelis; Panagiotis Givissis; Dimitrios Tzovaras

doi:10.1016/j.jmbbm.2023.105796

Development of biodegradable customized tibial scaffold with advanced architected materials utilizing additive manufacturing

J Mech Behav Biomed Mater. 2023 May:141:105796. doi: 10.1016/j.jmbbm.2023.105796. Epub 2023 Mar 21.

Authors

Nikolaos Kladovasilakis¹, Paschalis Charalampous², Apostolos Boumpakis², Theodora Kontodina², Konstantinos Tsongas³, Dimitrios Tzetzis⁴, Ioannis Kostavelis⁵, Panagiotis Givissis⁶, Dimitrios Tzovaras²

Affiliations

¹ Centre for Research and Technology Hellas - Information Technologies Institute (CERTH/ITI), Thessaloniki, 57001, Greece; Digital Manufacturing and Materials Characterization Laboratory, School of Science and Technology, International Hellenic University, Thessaloniki, 57001, Greece. Electronic address: nikoklad@iti.gr.
² Centre for Research and Technology Hellas - Information Technologies Institute (CERTH/ITI), Thessaloniki, 57001, Greece.
³ Digital Manufacturing and Materials Characterization Laboratory, School of Science and Technology, International Hellenic University, Thessaloniki, 57001, Greece; Department of Industrial Engineering and Management, School of Engineering, International Hellenic University, 57001, Thessaloniki, Greece.
⁴ Digital Manufacturing and Materials Characterization Laboratory, School of Science and Technology, International Hellenic University, Thessaloniki, 57001, Greece.
⁵ Centre for Research and Technology Hellas - Information Technologies Institute (CERTH/ITI), Thessaloniki, 57001, Greece; Department of Supply Chain Management, School of Economics and Business Administration, International Hellenic University, 60100, Katerini, Greece.
⁶ 1st Orthopaedic Department of Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, School of Medicine, G. Papanikolaou Hospital, Exohi, Thessaloniki, 57010, Greece.

PMID: 36965217
DOI: 10.1016/j.jmbbm.2023.105796

Abstract

In the last decade, the development of customized biodegradable scaffolds and implants has attracted increased scientific interest due to the fact that additive manufacturing technologies allow for the rapid production of implants with high geometric complexity constructed via commercial biodegradable polymers. In this study, innovative designs of tibial scaffold in form of bone-brick configuration were developed to fill the bone gap utilizing advanced architected materials and bio-inspired diffusion canals. The architected materials and canals provide high porosity, as well as a high surface area to volume ratio in the scaffold facilitating that way in the tissue regeneration process and in withstanding the applied external loads. The cellular structures applied in this work were the Schwarz Diamond (SD) and a hybrid SD&FCC hybrid cellular material, which is a completely new architected material that derived from the combination of SD and Face Centered Cubic (FCC) structures. These designs were additively manufactured utilizing two biodegradable materials namely Polylactic acid (PLA) and Polycaprolactone (PCL), using the Fused Filament Fabrication (FFF) technique, in order to avoid the surgery, for the scaffold's removal after the bone regeneration. Furthermore, the additively manufactured scaffolds were examined in terms of compatibility and assembly with the bone's physical model, as well as, in terms of mechanical behavior under realistic static loads. In addition, non-linear finite element models (FEMs) were developed based on the experimental data to accurately simulate the mechanical response of the examined scaffolds. The Finite Element Analysis (FEA) results were compared with the experimental response and afterwards the stress concentration regions were observed and identified. Τhe proposed design of scaffold with SD&FCC lattice structure made of PLA material with a relative density of 20% revealed the best overall performance, showing that it is the most suitable candidate for further investigation (in-vivo test, clinical trials, etc.) and commercialization.

Keywords: 3D model reconstruction; Additive manufacturing; Architected materials; Biodegradable; Finite element models; Tibial scaffold.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Bone and Bones
Polyesters* / chemistry
Polymers / chemistry
Porosity
Tissue Scaffolds* / chemistry

Substances

Polyesters
Polymers