Purpose

The three-dimensional porous scaffold is an important concept in tissue engineering and helps to restore or regenerate a damaged tissue. Additive manufacturing (AM) technology makes the production of custom-designed scaffolds possible. However, modeling scaffolds with intricate architecture and customized pore size and spatial distribution presents a challenge. This paper aims to achieve coupling control of pore size and spatial distribution in bone scaffolds for AM.

Design/methodology/approach

First, the proposed method assumes that pore size and spatial distribution have already been transformed from the requirements of scaffolds as inputs. Second, the structural characteristics of scaffolds are explicitly correlated with an all-hexahedron meshing method for scaffold design so that the average pore size could be controlled. Third, the highly coupled internal mesh vertices are adjusted based on a random strategy so that the pore size and spatial distribution conform to their respective desired values. Fourth, after the adjustment, the unit pore cell based on a triply periodic minimal surface was mapped into the hexahedrons through a shape function, thereby ensuring the interconnectivity of the porous scaffold.

Findings

The case studies of three bone scaffolds demonstrate that the proposed approach is feasible and effective to simultaneously control pore size and spatial distribution in porous scaffolds.

Practical implications

The proposed method may make it more flexible to design scaffolds with controllable internal pore architecture for AM.

Originality/value

In the control approach, the highly coupled mesh vertices are adjusted through a random strategy, which can determine the moving direction and range of a vertex dynamically and biasedly, thus ensuring the feasibility and efficiency of the proposed method.

中文翻译：

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基于增材制造随机策略的骨支架孔径和空间分布的耦合控制

目的

三维多孔支架是组织工程中的重要概念，有助于恢复或再生受损的组织。增材制造（AM）技术使定制支架的生产成为可能。然而，以复杂的结构和定制的孔径和空间分布对支架进行建模提出了挑战。本文旨在实现AM骨支架中孔尺寸和空间分布的耦合控制。

设计/方法/方法

首先，所提出的方法假设孔的大小和空间分布已经从支架的需求中转化为输入。其次，将支架的结构特征与用于支架设计的全六面体网格划分法明确关联，以便可以控制平均孔径。第三，基于随机策略调整高度耦合的内部网格顶点，以使孔径和空间分布符合其各自的期望值。第四，在调整之后，基于三重周期性最小表面的单位孔单元通过形状函数映射到六面体中，从而确保多孔支架的互连性。

发现

对三个骨支架的案例研究表明，所提出的方法在同时控制多孔支架的孔径和空间分布方面是可行和有效的。

实际影响

所提出的方法可以使其更灵活地设计具有可控内部孔隙结构的AM支架。

创意/价值

在控制方法中，通过随机策略调整高度耦合的网格顶点，可以动态，有偏地确定顶点的移动方向和范围，从而保证了该方法的可行性和有效性。