Selective Laser Melting of Stainless Steel 316L with Face-Centered-Cubic-Based Lattice Structures to Produce Rib Implants

Selective laser melting has a great potential to manufacture biocompatible metal alloy scaffolds or implants with a regulated porosity structure. This study uses five face-centered cubic (FCC) lattice structures, including FCC, FCC-Z, S-FCC, S-FCC-Z, and FCC-XYZ. Specimens with different lattice structures are fabricated using two laser energy densities, 71 J/mm3 and 125 J/mm3. Density, tensile, compressive and flexural test results exhibit the effect of laser parameters and lattice structure geometries on mechanical properties. The higher laser energy density of 125 J/mm3 results in higher properties such as density, strength, and Young's modulus than the laser energy density of 71 J/mm3. The S-FCC lattice has the lowest density among all lattices. The mechanical tests result show specimen with FCC-XYZ lattice structures fabricated using a laser energy density of 125 J/mm3 meet the tensile properties requirement for human ribs. This structure also meets the requirement in flexural strength performance, but its stiffness is over that of human ribs. The compression test results of lattices are still incomparable due to unavailable compression data of the human ribs. In short, The FCC-XYZ lattice design fabricated by the 125 J/mm3 laser energy density parameter can be used to manufacture customized rib implants.