Fabrication

Pathology

Fusion

Nanotechnology

Sintering

Porosity

Philosophy

Composite material

Selective laser melting

Metallurgy

Materials science

Alternative medicine

Biocompatibility

Linguistics

3D printing

Selective laser sintering

Medicine

Microstructure

Bioactive Materials

Recently, the fabrication methods of orthopedic implants and devices have been greatly developed. Additive manufacturing technology allows the production of complex structures with bio-mimicry features, and has the potential to overcome the limitations of conventional fabrication methods. This review explores open-cellular structural design for porous metal implant applications, in relation to the mechanical properties, biocompatibility, and biodegradability. Several types of additive manufacturing techniques including selective laser sintering, selective laser melting, and electron beam melting, are discussed for different applications. Additive manufacturing through powder bed fusion shows great potential for the fabrication of high-quality porous metal implants. However, the powder bed fusion technique still faces two major challenges: it is high cost and time-consuming. In addition, triply periodic minimal surface (TPMS) structures are also analyzed in this paper, targeting the design of metal implants with an enhanced biomorphic environment.

Additive manufacturing technology for porous metal implant applications and triple minimal surface structures: A review