Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 5, 2025
Fabrication of Mechanically Tunable and Bioactive Metal Scaffolds for Biomedical Applications
Published on: December 8, 2015
Development of biodegradable customized tibial scaffold with advanced architected materials utilizing additive
Nikolaos Kladovasilakis1, Paschalis Charalampous2, Apostolos Boumpakis2
1Centre 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.
Custom biodegradable scaffolds using advanced architected materials show promise for bone regeneration. The Schwarz Diamond & Face Centered Cubic hybrid structure made of Polylactic acid demonstrated superior performance for tibial bone gap filling.
Area of Science:
- Biomaterials Engineering
- Additive Manufacturing
- Tissue Engineering
Background:
- Growing interest in customized biodegradable scaffolds for bone repair.
- Additive manufacturing enables complex geometries from biodegradable polymers.
- Need for advanced scaffold designs to enhance tissue regeneration and mechanical support.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop innovative tibial scaffold designs for bone gap filling using architected materials and bio-inspired canals.
- To investigate the performance of novel Schwarz Diamond (SD) and hybrid SD&FCC cellular structures.
- To evaluate additively manufactured scaffolds made from Polylactic acid (PLA) and Polycaprolactone (PCL) for compatibility and mechanical behavior.
Main Methods:
- Development of bone-brick configured tibial scaffolds with high porosity and surface area.
- Additive manufacturing using Fused Filament Fabrication (FFF) with PLA and PCL.
- Mechanical testing under static loads and non-linear Finite Element Analysis (FEA) for simulation and stress analysis.
Main Results:
- Scaffolds exhibited high porosity and surface area, beneficial for tissue regeneration.
- FEA results correlated well with experimental data, identifying stress concentration regions.
- The SD&FCC lattice structure scaffold made of PLA (20% relative density) showed the best overall mechanical performance.
Conclusions:
- The developed architected scaffolds show potential for effective bone regeneration and load-bearing applications.
- The hybrid SD&FCC lattice structure in PLA is a promising candidate for clinical translation.
- Further in-vivo testing and clinical trials are recommended for commercialization.
