Titanium based bone implants production using laser powder bed fusion technology

Additive manufacturing (AM) enables fully dense biomimetic implants in the designed geometries from preferred materials such as titanium and its alloys. Titanium aluminum vanadium (Ti6Al4V) is one of the pioneer metal alloys for bone implant applications, however, the reasons for eliminating the toxic effects of Ti6Al4V and maintaining adequate mechanical strength have increased the potential of commercially pure titanium (cp-Ti) to be used in bone implants. This literature review aims to evaluate the production of cp-Ti and Ti6Al4V biomedical implants with laser powder bed fusion (L-PBF) technology, which has a very high level of technological matureness and industrialization level. The optimization of L-PBF manufacturing parameters and post-processing techniques affect the obtained microstructure leading to various mechanical, corrosion and biological behaviors of the manufactured titanium. All of the features are considered in the light of specifications and needs of bone implant applications. The most critical disadvantages of the L-PBF technology, such as residual stresses and leading deformations are introduced and the potential solutions are discussed. Moreover, the manufacturability of porous bone implants that causes benefit and harm in L-PBF applications are assessed.