Structural optimization design and compression performance of porous titanium prepared by laser powder bed fusion

Porous implants composed of periodically-repeating porous units have been applied in orthopedic surgeries to replace damaged bones. An important requirement for bone implants is to find a balance between biological and mechanical properties, that is, to ensure high pore connectivity and a certain strength. In this work, center-supported and perimeter-supported porous optimization models were established by a swarm intelligence optimization algorithm, and the corresponding titanium porous samples were fabricated by laser powder bed fusion (L-PBF). The effects of cell topology and porosity on the compressive behavior of L-PBF titanium porous structures were systematically investigated by a combination of compression simulation and experiments. Compression simulation shows that the deformation failure behavior of center-supported and perimeter-supported porous structures consists of three stages: elastic deformation, plastic deformation and compression collapse, showing the characteristics of elastic-plastic porous materials. According to the compression test results, the compressive strength of center-supported and perimeter-supported structure samples are 151–188 MPa and 178–196 MPa, respectively, and the compressive stability of the perimeter-supported structure is better than that of the center-supported structure. The porosity error of center-supported structure is 1.6%–2.9%, and the porosity error of perimeter-supported structure is 3.1%–4.5%. The compressive strength of the same type of structure decreases with the increase of the porosity of the porous structure. The simulation/experimental compressive strength errors of center-supported and perimeter-supported structures are less than 6% and 5.9%, respectively. The constructed quasi-static compression model has certain guiding significance for the study of the fracture of the titanium implants under external force.