Purpose: Ti6Al4V alloy has received a great deal of attention in medical applications due to its biomechanical compatibility. However, the human bone stiffness is between 10 and 30 GPa while solid Ti6Al4V is several times stiffer, which would cause stress shielding with the surrounding bone, which can lead to implant and/or the surrounding bone’s failure. Design/methodology/approach: In this work, the effect of selective laser melting (SLM) process parameters on the characteristics of Ti6Al4V samples, such as porosity level, surface roughness, elastic modulus and compressive strength (UCS), has been investigated using response surface method. The examined ranges of process parameters were 35-50 W for laser power, 100-400 mm/s for scan speed and 35-120 µm for hatch spacing. The process parameters have been optimized to obtain structures with properties very close to that in human bones. Findings: The results showed that the porosity percentage of a SLM component could be increased by reducing the laser power and/or increasing the scan speed and hatch spacing. It was also shown that there was a reverse relationship between the porosity level and both the modulus of elasticity and UCS of the SLM part. In addition, the increased laser power was resulted into a substantial decrease of the surface roughness of SLM parts. Results from the optimization study revealed that the interaction between laser process parameters (i.e. laser power, laser speed, and the laser spacing) have the most significant influence on the mechanical properties of fabricated samples. The optimized values for the manufacturing of medical implants were 49 W, 400 mm/s and 99 µm for the laser power, laser speed and laser spacing, respectively. The corresponding porosity, surface roughness, modulus of elasticity and UCS were 23.62 per cent, 8.68 µm, 30 GPa and 522 MPa, respectively. Originality/value: Previous investigations related to additive manufacturing of Ti alloys have focused on producing fully dense and high-integrity structures. There is a clear gap in literature regarding the simultaneous enhancement and adjustment of pore fraction, surface and mechanical properties of Ti6Al4V SLM components toward biomedical implants. This was the objective of the current study.

This work aimed to study one of the most important challenges in orthopaedic implantations, known as stress shielding of total shoulder implants. This problem arises from the elastic modulus mismatch between the implant and the surrounding tissue, and can result in bone resorption and implant loosening. This objective was addressed by designing and optimising a cellular-based lattice-structured implant to control the stiffness of a humeral implant stem used in shoulder implant applications. This study used a topology lattice-optimisation tool to create different cellular designs that filled the original design of a shoulder implant, and were further analysed using finite element analysis (FEA). A laser powder bed fusion technique was used to fabricate the Ti-6Al-4V test samples, and the obtained material properties were fed to the FEA model. The optimised cellular design was further fabricated using powder bed fusion, and a compression test was carried out to validate the FEA model. The yield strength, elastic modulus, and surface area/volume ratio of the optimised lattice structure, with a strut diameter of 1 mm, length of 5 mm, and 100% lattice percentage in the design space of the implant model were found to be 200 MPa, 5 GPa, and 3.71 mm⁻¹, respectively. The obtained properties indicated that the proposed cellular structure can be effectively applied in total shoulder-replacement surgeries. Ultimately, this approach should lead to improvements in patient mobility, as well as to reducing the need for revision surgeries due to implant loosening.

Auxetic structures have attracted attention in energy absorption applications owing to their improved shear modulus and enhanced resistance to indentation. On the other hand, four-dimensional (4D) printing is an emerging technology that is capable of 3D printing smart materials with additional functionality. This paper introduces the development of a NiTi negative-Poisson’s-ratio structure with superelasticity/shape memory capabilities for improved ballistic applications. An analytical model was initially used to optimize the geometrical parameters of a re-entrant auxetic structure. It was found that the re-entrant auxetic structure with a cell angle of −30° produced the highest Poisson’s ratio of −2.089. The 4D printing process using a powder bed fusion system was used to fabricate the optimized NiTi auxetic structure. The measured negative Poisson’s ratio of the fabricated auxetic structure was found in agreement with both the analytical model and the finite element simulation. A finite element model was developed to simulate the dynamic response of the optimized auxetic NiTi structure subjected to different projectile speeds. Three stages of the impact process describing the penetration of the top plate, auxetic structure, and bottom plate have been identified. The results show that the optimized auxetic structures affect the dynamic response of the projectile by getting denser toward the impact location. This helped to improve the energy absorbed per unit mass of the NiTi auxetic structure to about two times higher than that of the solid NiTi plate and five times higher than that of the solid conventional steel plate.

Liquid Al and Mg-base alloys are so reactive that it is reasonable to assume that the surface layer is always oxidized. If liquid aluminium entered a mould cavity with a velocity greater than a critical value, the surface skin of the liquid metal would fold over onto itself and be submerged into the bulk liquid with a volume of air entrapped within it, creating what is called a bifilm defect. This defect not only acts as a crack but also it is recognized to initiate hydrogen porosity in the solidified casting, which has been found to have detrimental effects on the tensile and fatigue properties of the castings produced. Previous research suggested that during solidification, the hydrogen, in excess of the solubility limit, comes out of the solution and diffuses into the bifilm gap, expanding it into a pore. Also, placing liquid metal in a vacuum may cause its entrained bifilms to expand, enhancing their buoyancy and therefore their floatation to the surface of the melt. In this work, a casting from an A356 Al alloy was allowed to solidify under vacuum. The solidified casting was sectioned into two halves, and the internal surfaces of the pores were investigated using an SEM to determine their relationship with double oxide film defects.