Mechanical property of octahedron Ti6Al4V fabricated by selective laser melting

The stress shielding effect is a critical issue for implanted prosthesis due to the difference in elastic modulus between the implanted material and the human bone. The adjustment of the elastic modulus of implants by modification of the lattice structure is the key to the research in the field of implanted prosthesis. Our work focuses on the basic unit structure of octahedron Ti6Al4V. The equivalent elastic modulus and equivalent density of porous structure are optimized according to the mechanical properties of human bone tissue by adjusting the edge diameter and side length of octahedral lattice. Macroscopic long-range ordered arrangement of lattice structures is fabricated by selective laser melting (SLM) technology. Finite element simulation is performed to calculate the mechanical property of octahedron Ti6Al4V. Scanning electronic microscopy is applied to observe the microstructure of octahedron alloy and its cross section morphology of fracture. Standard compression test is performed for the stress–strain behavior of the specimen. Our results show that the octahedral lattice with the edge diameter of 0.4 mm and unit cell length of 1.5 mm has the best mechanical property which is close to the human bone. The value of equivalent elastic modulus increases with the increase in the edge diameter. The SLM technology proves to be an effective processing way for the fabrication of complex microstructures with porosity. In addition, the specimen exhibits isotropic mechanical performance and homogeneity which significantly meet the requirement of implanted prosthetic medical environment.