Mechanical performance of additively manufactured cobalt-chromium-molybdenum auxetic meta-biomaterial bone scaffolds

Auxetic meta-biomaterials offer unconventional strain behaviour owing to their negative Poisson's ratio (−υ) leading to deformation modes and mechanical properties different to traditional cellular biomaterials. This can lead to favourable outcomes for load-bearing tissue engineering constructs such as bone scaffolds. Emerging early-stage studies have shown the potential of auxetic architecture in increasing cell proliferation and tissue reintegration owing to their −υ. However, research on the development of CoCrMo auxetic meta-biomaterials including bone scaffolds or implants is yet to be reported. In this regard, this paper proposes a potential framework for the development of auxetic meta-biomaterials that can be printed on demand while featuring porosity requirements suitable for load-bearing bone scaffolds. Overall, the performance of five CoCrMo auxetic meta-biomaterial scaffolds characterised under two scenarios for their potential to offer near-zero and high negative Poisson's ratio is demonstrated. Ashby's criterion followed by prototype testing was employed to evaluate the mechanical performance and failure modes of the auxetic meta-biomaterial scaffolds under uniaxial compression. The best performing scaffold architectures are identified through a multi-criteria decision-making procedure combining 'analytic hierarchy process' (AHP) and 'technique for order of preference by similarity to ideal solution' (TOPSIS). The results found the Poisson's ratio for the meta-biomaterial architectures to be in the range of −0.1 to −0.24 at a porosity range of 73–82%. It was found that the meta-biomaterial scaffold (AX1) that offered the highest auxeticity also showed the highest elastic modulus, yield, and ultimate strength of 1.66 GPa, 56 MPa and 158 MPa, respectively. The study demonstrates that the elastic modulus, yield stress, and Poisson's ratio of auxetic meta-biomaterials are primarily influenced by the underlying meta-cellular architecture followed by relative density offering a secondary influence.