Effect of Material, Process Parameters, and Simulated Body Fluids on Mechanical Properties of 13-93 Bioactive Glass Porous Constructs Made by Selective Laser Sintering

Author

Krishna C. R. Kolan
Ming-Chuan Leu, Missouri University of Science and TechnologyFollow
Greg Hilmas, Missouri University of Science and TechnologyFollow
Mariano Velez

Abstract

The effect of particle size distribution, binder content, processing parameters, and sintering schedule on the microstructure and mechanical properties of porous constructs was investigated. The porous constructs were produced by indirect selective laser sintering (SLS) of 13-93 bioactive glass using stearic acid as a polymeric binder. The binder content and d50 particle size in the feedstock powders were simultaneously reduced from 22 to 12 wt% and from 20 to 11 μm, respectively, to identify the minimum binder content required for the SLS fabrication. An average particle size of ∼16 μm with a binder content of 15 wt% significantly reduced post-processing time and improved mechanical properties. Increasing the laser power and scan speed at the energy density of 1 cal/cm2 maintained the feature sharpness of the parts during the fabrication of green parts and could almost double the mechanical properties of the sintered parts. Changes in the heating rates, ranging from 0.1 to 2 °C/min, during the post-processing of the fabricated “green” scaffolds showed that the heating rate significantly affects the densification and mechanical properties of the sintered scaffolds. The compressive strength of the scaffolds manufactured with the optimized parameters varied from 41 MPa, for a scaffold with a porosity of ∼50%, to 157 MPa, for a dense part. The bioactive scaffolds soaked in simulated body fluids for durations up to 6 weeks were used to evaluate the change in mechanical properties in vitro.

Recommended Citation

K. C. Kolan et al., "Effect of Material, Process Parameters, and Simulated Body Fluids on Mechanical Properties of 13-93 Bioactive Glass Porous Constructs Made by Selective Laser Sintering," Journal of the Mechanical Behavior of Biomedical Materials, Elsevier, Sep 2012.

The definitive version is available at https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jmbbm.2012.04.001

Department(s)

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

Second Department

Materials Science and Engineering

International Standard Serial Number (ISSN)

1751-6161

Document Type

Article - Journal

Document Version

Citation

File Type

text

Language(s)

English

Rights

© 2012 Elsevier, All rights reserved.

Publication Date

01 Sep 2012