Development of customized tibial implant with advanced architected materials utilizing selective laser melting

In recent years, there has been a rising scientific interest in the utilization of advanced additive manufacturing (AM) technologies and sophisticated imaging and design software for developing customized implants with high geometrical complexity, allowing their rapid fabrication and implementation. The current paper focused on the development of a novel customized tibial implant for a total knee replacement, consisting of advanced architected materials to improve the implant’s biocompatibility and address the phenomena of stress shielding and wear. For this reason, CT scans in DICOM file format were reconstructed with an automated process to extract the patient-specific 3D model of the tibia model. Then, the selection of the proper architected material occurred based on the conducted evaluation of advanced architected materials constructed with the SLM AM technique. The evaluation process was performed with the assistance of quasi-static uniaxial compressive tests and finite element analysis utilizing representative volume elements. After the selection of the proper architected materials, the next step was to define the regions of the implant that the lattice structures should be applied. Having the final design of the implant’s structure completed, the fabrication and assembly processes were followed. The 3D model of the implant and the physical 3D-printed part were evaluated with experimental and numerical analysis. The developed tibial implant revealed strength and stiffness close to the bone minimizing the stress-shielding effect. Moreover, the final design achieved a mass reduction of 58.8% due to its extensive porosity of around 70% which can enhance osseointegration.