Flexural properties of Ti6Al4V rhombic dodecahedron open cellular structures fabricated with electron beam melting

Open cellular structures fabricated in Ti6Al4V using the electron beam melting (EBM) process have been proposed for tissue scaffolds and low stiffness implants that approximate the properties of bone. The properties of these structures, regardless of cell geometry, have often been determined through compressive testing, and very few of these studies have investigated the flexural properties. For certain types of implants that are designed to fill very large segmental defects in appendicular bones, such as those used in limb sparing, compression testing does not provide the necessary insight into the complex loading states typical of bending. In this study, EBM-fabricated Ti6Al4V prismatic bars, populated with rhombic dodecahedron unit cells of various sizes and relative densities, were subjected to four-point flexure tests. While the results generally follow the power scaling models of Gibson and Ashby, the use of these models as a design tool is limited by machine resolution, particularly when producing structures with small pore sizes required for bone ingrowth.