A Systematic Review on the Generation of Organic Structures through Additive Manufacturing Techniques

Area of Science:

• Biomaterials Engineering
• Medical Device Manufacturing
• Tissue Engineering

Background:

• Additive manufacturing (AM) enables complex geometric fabrication, crucial for medical prosthetics and orthopaedic applications.
• Porous scaffolds are vital for bone tissue engineering, requiring precise control over pore characteristics.
• AM offers unparalleled adaptability in replicating anatomical forms with biocompatible materials.

Purpose of the Study:

• To systematically review research on porous scaffold generation via AM for bone applications.
• To analyze different AM techniques, materials, and structural typologies.
• To identify cutting-edge methods for engineering self-supported stochastic printable porous frameworks.

Main Methods:

• Systematic literature review of additive manufacturing techniques for porous bone scaffolds.
• Analysis of material selection and structural designs, including lattices and organic forms.
• Evaluation of powder bed fusion techniques for scaffold fabrication.

Main Results:

• Lattice structures are the most frequently analyzed in AM-generated scaffolds.
• A significant trend towards using mathematically modeled organic structures printed with powder bed fusion.
• No existing research proposes self-supporting designs for organic bone scaffolds.

Conclusions:

• Additive manufacturing is key for advanced porous bone scaffolds.
• Further research is needed to develop self-supporting organic structures for bone regeneration.
• Optimizing AM for patient-specific, functional bone implants remains an active area.