Evaluation of Porous Titanium Structures and Lightweight for Mandibular Prosthesis

Abstract

<h3>Purpose</h3><p>The increased permeability of high porosity implants facilitates the easy diffusion of nutrients and the delivery of sufficient cellular mass for tissue repair. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the mechanical properties of the porous lattice scaffolds with four configurations and their application in designing a lightweight mandibular prosthesis.</p><h3>Methods</h3><p>Lattice scaffolds with four configurations (regular hexahedron, regular octahedron, rhombic dodecahedron, and body-centered cubic) and four porosities (60%, 70%, 80%, and 90%) were fabricated using selective laser manufacturing and their mechanical properties were evaluated by compression tests. Subsequently, a Gibson-Ashby model was developed to fit the porosity-stress curve of the scaffold. Furthermore, the lightweight design of the mandibular prosthesis was achieved by combining the maximum stress in the mandibular defect region and porosity-stress curves.</p><h3>Results</h3><p>The load transmission capacity of the scaffold was strongly correlated with both the configuration and porosity. Mechanical properties were negatively correlated with porosity under the same configuration; the regular hexahedron scaffold performed better at the same porosity. Mandibular prosthesis porosity with different configurations showed a difference of up to 8.4% (73.4% for body-centered cubic and 81.8% for regular hexahedron) and a gradient change with the maximum stress value of the defect region.</p><h3>Conclusion</h3><p>The lightweight prosthesis design method proposed in our study minimizes material wastage while maintaining its mechanical properties, providing a reference for stabilized mandibular reconstruction.</p>