Quasi-static compression and compression–compression fatigue behavior of regular and irregular cellular biomaterials

Abstract

The main aim of the current study is to evaluate the compressive quasi-static and fatigue properties of titanium alloy (Ti6Al4V) cellular materials, with different topologies, manufactured via laser powder bed fusion (LPBF) process. The topologies herein considered are lattice-based regular and irregular configurations of cubic, star, and cross-shaped unit cell along with trabecular-based topology. The results have indicated that the effective stiffness of all configurations are in the range of 0.3–20 GPa, which is desirable for implant applications. The morphological irregularities in the structures induce bending-dominated behavior affecting more the topologies with vertical struts. The S–N curves normalized with respect to the yield stress indicate that the behavior of star regular structures is between purely stretching-dominated cubic and purely bending-dominated cross-based structures. Trabecular structures have shown desirable quasi-static and fatigue properties despite the random distribution of struts.