Mohsen Taheri Andani

Metals for bone implants. Part 1. Powder metallurgy and implant rendering.

New metal alloys and metal fabrication strategies are likely to benefit future skeletal implant strategies. These metals and fabrication strategies were looked at from the point of view of standard-of-care implants for the mandible. These implants are used as part of the treatment for segmental resection due to oropharyngeal cancer, injury or correction of deformity due to pathology or congenital defect. The focus of this two-part review is the issues associated with the failure of existing mandibular implants that are due to mismatched material properties. Potential directions for future research are also studied. To mitigate these issues, the use of low-stiffness metallic alloys has been highlighted. To this end, the development, processing and biocompatibility of superelastic NiTi as well as resorbable magnesium-based alloys are discussed. Additionally, engineered porosity is reviewed as it can be an effective way of matching the stiffness of an implant with the surrounding tissue. These porosities and the overall geometry of the implant can be optimized for strain transduction and with a tailored stiffness profile. Rendering patient-specific, site-specific, morphology-specific and function-specific implants can now be achieved using these and other metals with bone-like material properties by additive manufacturing. The biocompatibility of implants prepared from superelastic and resorbable alloys is also reviewed.

Achieving biocompatible stiffness in NiTi through additive manufacturing

This article seeks to reduce the stiffness of NiTi parts from a nonporous state to that of human bone by introducing porosity. Compact bone stiffness is between 12 and 20 GPa while the currently used bone implant materials are several times stiffer. While very stiff implants and/or fixation hardware can temporarily immobilize healing bone, it also causes stress shielding of the surrounding bone and commonly results in stress concentrations at the implant or immobilization hardware’s fixation site(s). Together these processes can lead to implant or fixation hardware and/or the surrounding bone’s failure. Porous NiTi can be used to reduce the stiffness of metallic implants while also providing necessary stabilization or immobilization of the patient’s reconstructed anatomy. In this work, mechanical behavior of porous NiTi with different levels of porosity is simulated to show the relation between the stiffness and porosity level. Then porous structures are fabricated through additive manufacturing to validate the simulation results. The results indicate that stiffness can be reduced from the bulk value of 69 GPa to as low as 20.5 GPa for 58% porosity. The simulation shows that it is possible to achieve a wide range of desired stiffness by adjusting the level of porosity.

Thermomechanical characterization of Ni-rich NiTi fabricated by selective laser melting

This study presents the shape memory behavior of as-fabricated and solution annealed Ni50.8Ti49.2 alloys fabricated using the selective laser melting (SLM) technique. Results were compared to the initial ingot that was used to fabricate powders. Optical microscopy was employed to reveal the microstructure. The shape memory effect under constant compressive stress and isothermal compressive stress cycling tests were utilized to investigate the shape memory characteristics of the initial ingot and fabricated alloys. It was revealed that the SLM method and post heat treatments can be used to tailor the microstructure and shape memory response. Partial superelasticity was observed after the SLM process. Solutionizing the fabricated samples increased the strength and improved the superelasticity but slightly decreased the recoverable strain.

Process development and characterization of additively manufactured nickel–titanium shape memory parts

Additive manufacturing of nickel–titanium has two distinct advantages over conventional methods. It circumvents the difficulties associated with machining of nickel–titanium and it provides a freedom-of-design that conventional processing cannot match. In this article, we analyze the effects of processing parameters on the structural and functional outcomes of selective laser melted nickel–titanium parts. Notably, we expand the parametric envelope compared to the previous studies by utilizing a higher power 300 W laser. Optimal process parameters are identified for additively manufacturing of nickel–titanium parts with verified shape memory behavior and complex structures with accurate features are fabricated.

An Investigation of Effective Process Parameters on Phase Transformation Temperature of Nitinol Manufactured by Selective Laser Melting

It’s well accepted that the thermo-mechanical properties of Nitinol (NiTi) are strongly affected by the material processing. Additive manufacturing has been recently considered as an interesting technique to develop Nitinol devices with sophisticated geometries, which are impossible or very difficult to be produced through typical manufacturing procedures. In the present work, the effect of energy input on the phase transformation temperatures, as the most critical thermal parameters of the shape memory material, of Nitinol parts manufactured by selective laser melting is investigated and discussed.Copyright

Mechanical and shape memory properties of porous Ni50.1Ti49.9 alloys manufactured by selective laser melting

Near equiatomic NiTi shape memory alloys were fabricated in dense and designed porous forms by Selective Laser Melting (SLM) and their mechanical and shape memory properties were systematically characterized. Particularly, the effects of pore morphology on their mechanical responses were investigated. Dense and porous NiTi alloys exhibited good shape memory effect with a recoverable strain of about 5% and functional stability after eight cycles of compression. The stiffness and residual plastic strain of porous NiTi were found to depend highly on the pore shape and the level of porosity. Since porous NiTi structures have lower elastic modulus and density than dense NiTi with still good shape memory properties, they are promising materials for lightweight structures, energy absorbers, and biomedical implants.

Additive Manufacturing of Nitinol Shape Memory Alloys to Overcome Challenges in Conventional Nitinol Fabrication

The pseudoelastic and shape memory effects of NiTi can be used in passive or active actuation systems. Often used in the aerospace industry, the use of NiTi for actuation is also growing in the biomedical fields and elsewhere. However, it’s potential in industry is currently limited by the inability to produce complex NiTi parts. Conventional manufacturing processes are complicated by the extreme difficulty associated with machining NiTi. Furthermore, the transformation temperatures which drive the unique behavior of NiTi as a shape memory alloy are extremely sensitive to the relative concentrations of nickel and titanium. Therefore, exceptionally tight compositional control during production is necessary to guarantee ideal material behavior. Additive manufacturing (AM) is a near-net-shaping technology which allows for the direct fabrication of complex metallic components. By utilizing the AM processing principle, the poor machinability of NiTi is no longer an issue. Using AM also enables production of 3D geometries that are not possible using traditional techniques. Furthermore, direct CAD fabrication reduces the timescale of the concept-to-prototype transition. In the present work, an SLM machine (Phenix Systems PXM) is used to develop NiTi components directly from powder. The thermal characteristics and shape memory functionality of SLM NiTi components is demonstrated.Copyright

A Modified Microplane Model Using Transformation Surfaces to Consider Loading History on Phase Transition in Shape Memory Alloys

In most of the existing SMA constitutive models, it is assumed that transformation starts when a thermodynamic driving force reaches a specified amount regardless of loading history. In this work, a phenomenological approach is used to develop an enhanced one-dimensional constitutive model in which loading history is directly considered as one of the main parameters affecting the transformation start conditions. To generalize the model to three-dimensional cases, a microplane formulation based on volumetric-deviatoric is employed. A free energy potential is defined at the microplane level, integrated over all orientations at a material point to provide the macroscopic free energy. Experiments are carried out on Nitinol superelastic tubes to validate the newly proposed constitutive model. In these experiments, interruptions are applied during transformations to show the effects of loading history on transformation start conditions. Numerical results are compared with the experimental data to demonstrate the accuracy of the enhanced model.© 2014 ASME

Modeling and Validation of Additively Manufactured Porous Nitinol Implants

Bone implants are long term solutions for bone loss. Currently, two issues have been identified as reducing the long term stability of bone implants. The first issue is stiffness mismatch between the implant and the surrounding bony structure. The current materials used for manufacturing bone implants are much stiffer than the surrounding host bone. The second issue concerns bone-implant integration; the fact is that the bone needs an appropriate surface on which to attach and accept or deliver a load. Additive manufacturing techniques using Nitinol may provide the ability to fabricate bone implants with predetermined pore size and stiffness. This work brings the concept of stiffness tailoring to reality, taking advantage of additive manufacturing technique to fabricate engineering porosity to modify the stiffness. Based on the simulation and test results, it is shown that implants can be made with the stiffness in the range of the stiffness of the bone. The same capabilities can be used to affect a rough surface onto which bone is more likely to attach.Copyright

Shape memory response of porous NiTi shape memory alloys fabricated by selective laser melting

AbstractPorous NiTi scaffolds display unique bone-like properties including low stiffness and superelastic behavior which makes them promising for biomedical applications. The present article focuses on the techniques to enhance superelasticity of porous NiTi structures. Selective Laser Melting (SLM) method was employed to fabricate the dense and porous (32–58%) NiTi parts. The fabricated samples were subsequently heat-treated (solution annealing + aging at 350 °C for 15 min) and their thermo-mechanical properties were determined as functions of temperature and stress. Additionally, the mechanical behaviors of the samples were simulated and compared to the experimental results. It is shown that SLM NiTi with up to 58% porosity can display shape memory effect with full recovery under 100 MPa nominal stress. Dense SLM NiTi could show almost perfect superelasticity with strain recovery of 5.65 after 6% deformation at body temperatures. The strain recoveries were 3.5, 3.6, and 2.7% for samples with porosity levels of 32%, 45%, and 58%, respectively. Furthermore, it was shown that Young’s modulus (i.e., stiffness) of NiTi parts can be tuned by adjusting the porosity levels to match the properties of the bones.