TENSILE BEHAVIOUR OF TI6AL4V LATTICE STRUCTURES PRODUCED BY LASER POWDER BED FUSION AND DESIGN CRITERIA

Although additive manufacturing (AM) technology has many advantages in manufacturing complex geometries, it is not always possible to have desired results and performance due to its inherent limitations. This situation becomes crucial in manufacturing of lattice structures that are commonly used in aerospace, biomedical, etc. areas. The lattice structure design is easier with AM technologies, therefore process and lattice parameters must be carefully reviewed especially on biomedical properties. Titanium alloys are widely used for additive manufacturing of those implants with laser powder bed fusion (LPBF) technology. By doing so, we are able to achieve porous, lightweight and durable bone implants that aim to reflect bone properties. Due to these benefits of lattice structures and their ease of design, many studies focus on lattice structures, but their design, manufacturing and implementation features have not been completely deduced. As such, lattice topology and design may affect mechanical properties of the parts and manufacturing quality. In this aspect, three different strut-based lattice topologies (octahedron, dodecahedron and star), as potential bone implant structures were selected and tensile test specimens accommodating these topologies were manufactured with Ti6Al4V powder using laser powder bed fusion (LPBF). All the manufactured specimens were subjected to tensile tests and the results were reported.