A new method for designing porous implant
Year: 2017
Editor: Anja Maier, Stanko Škec, Harrison Kim, Michael Kokkolaras, Josef Oehmen, Georges Fadel, Filippo Salustri, Mike Van der Loos
Author: Yang, Huiyuan; Zhao, Yaoyao
Series: ICED
Institution: McGill University, Canada
Section: Design for X, Design to X
Page(s): 337-344
ISBN: 978-1-904670-93-3
ISSN: 2220-4342
Abstract
Porous interconnected structure has been widely used in designing bone implant as it provides a three-dimensional space for cell ingrowth and nutrients transportation. Current modeling techniques either uses medical Images reconstruction to form randomized lattice or repeats unit cell spatially to periodical lattice structure. However, none of them is able to achieve sufficient control of mechanical properties. In this paper, a novel method is proposed using the implicit surface modelling and Voronoi diagram to generate randomized porous structure. Implicit surface modelling utilizes 3D scalar mathematical equation to represent complex geometries where several key parameters such as strut thickness and density can be easily determined thus the mechanical properties of the structure can also be determined. The proposed data acquisition method simplifies the CT image to point cloud. The distribution of point cloud is the presence of natural tissue distribution in image data which is inherited the generated artificial porous structure.
Keywords: Bio-inspired design / biomimetics, Design for Additive Manufacturing (DfAM), Complexity, Computer Aided Design (CAD)