Production of highly porous titanium (Ti) scaffolds by vacuum-assisted foaming of titanium hydride (TiH2) suspension

• Highly porous Ti scaffolds were produced using vacuum-assisted foaming.
• The samples had high porosity (~82 vol%) and large pore size (~150 μm).
• Reasonably high compressive strength (~8.9 MPa) was achieved.

We produced highly porous titanium (Ti) scaffolds with large interconnected pores using vacuum-assisted foaming. To achieve this, a titanium hydride (TiH2) suspension was vigorously foamed under reduced pressure, then rapidly frozen at −70 °C, and finally freeze dried to remove frozen ice. The resulting green samples were heat-treated in a vacuum at 400 °C for 2 h to remove the organic phases and then at 1300 °C for 2 h to densify the Ti walls. Samples produced both with and without vacuum-assisted foaming showed good shape tolerance with a uniform porous structure. The samples produced using vacuum-assisted foaming had higher porosity (82±1.3 vol%) and larger pore size (150±65 μm), but lower compressive strength (8.9±1.6 MPa).