The design and manufacturing three-dimensional scaffolds are a significant concept in bone tissue engineering (BTE). Firstly, from the perspective of manufacturing, Additive manufacturing (AM) technology has achieved great attraction in the field of BTE during the past few years. In the field of BTE, the possibility of generating complex porous structures with high precision compared to typical manufacturing methods has made AM the leading option for scaffold production. Secondly, from the design perspective, design porous scaffold plays a decisive role in BTE since scaffold design with an appropriate architectures have to lead to proper strength and porosity. The purpose of this research is extraction of optimal architecture to achieve maximum mechanical strength of BTE scaffolds. Hence, the geometry structures of the unit-cell have been selected in Cube, Cylinder and Hexagonal prism. On the other hand, for considering the porosity effects, three different unit-cell size have been chosen, and a total of nine scaffolds have been designed. Designed scaffolds were fabricated using Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) 3D Printer and dimensional features of scaffolds were evaluated by comparing the designed scaffolds with scanning electron microscope (SEM). The specimens were exposed to mechanical compression test and the results were validated with the finite element analysis (FEA). Verified experimental and FEM results offered an excellent possible unit-cell geometry to be applied in design and manufacturing of BTE scaffolds.
The design and manufacturing cubic porous scaffolds are a considerable notion in tissue engineering (TE). From Additive manufacturing (AM) perspective, it has attained high appeal in the string of TE during the past decade. In the view of TE, the feasibility of manufacturing intricate porous scaffolds with high accuracy contrast to prominent producing methods has caused AM the outstanding option for manufacturing scaffold. From design perspective, porous scaffold structures play a crucial task in TE as scaffold design with an adequate geometries provide a route to required strength and porosity. The target of this paper is achieve of best geometry to become an optimum mechanical strength and porosity of TE scaffolds. Hence, the cubic geometry has been chosen for scaffold and Cube, Cylinder and Hexagonal prism geometries have been selected for pore of structures. In addition, for noticing the porosity effects, pore size has been chosen in three size, and a whole of nine scaffolds have been designed. Designed scaffolds were generated using Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) 3D Printer and dimensional specifications of scaffolds were evaluated by comparing the designed scaffolds with Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM). The samples were subjected to mechanical compression test and the results were verified with the Finite Element Analysis (FEA). The results showed that firstly, as the porosity increases, the compressive strength and modulus of elasticity obviously decreased in all geometry pore scaffolds. Secondly, as the geometry changes in similar porosity, cubic pore scaffold achieved higher compressive strength and modulus of elasticity than cylinder and hexagonal prime. Experimental and FEM validated results proposed a privileged feasible pore geometry of cubic scaffold to be used in design and manufacturing of TE scaffolds.