Additively manufactured Ti-6Al-4V lattices display unique mechanical and biological properties by virtue of their engineered structure. These attributes enable the innovative design of patient-specific medical implants that (i) are conformal to the intended surgical geometry, (ii) mimic the mechanical properties of natural bone, and (iii) provide superior biological interaction to traditional implants. Selective electron beam melting (SEBM) is an established metal additive manufacturing (AM) process that has enabled the design and fabrication of a variety of novel intricate lattices for implant applications over the last 15 years. This article reviews the technical and clinical characteristics of SEBM Ti-6Al-4V lattices, including (i) the SEBM process and its capabilities, (ii) the structures of human bones with an exhaustive list of corresponding mechanical properties from literature, (iii) the mechanical properties of SEBM Ti-6Al-4V lattices of various designs and their shortcomings when compared to human bones, (iv) microstructural control of SEBM Ti-6Al-4V lattices for improved performance, (v) the lattice manufacturability and associated geometric errors, and (vi) clinical cases. Existing literature on the mechanical response of SEBM Ti-6Al-4V lattice structures is exhaustively evaluated for documentation quality using established theoretical models. This extensive data-set allows novel insights into the effect of lattice design on mechanical response that is not possible with the individual data; and provides a comprehensive database for those who are actively involved in patient-specific SEBM implant design. On this basis, outstanding challenges and research opportunities for SEBM Ti-6Al-4V lattices in the biomedical domain are identified and discussed.

增材制造的Ti-6Al-4V晶格凭借其工程结构表现出独特的机械和生物学特性。这些属性实现了针对患者的医用植入物的创新设计，该植入物（i）符合预期的手术几何形状，（ii）模仿天然骨骼的机械特性，并且（iii）与传统植入物相比具有优越的生物学相互作用。选择性电子束熔化（SEBM）是一种成熟的金属增材制造（AM）工艺，在过去的15年中，该工艺已经能够设计和制造用于植入物应用的各种新型复杂晶格。本文回顾了SEBM Ti-6Al-4V晶格的技术和临床特征，包括（i）SEBM工艺及其功能，（ii）从文献中详尽列出相应力学性能的人体骨骼结构；（iii）各种设计的SEBM Ti-6Al-4V晶格的机械性能及其与人体骨骼相比的缺点；（iv）微结构控制SEBM Ti-6Al-4V晶格以改善性能，（v）晶格可制造性和相关的几何误差，以及（vi）临床案例。使用建立的理论模型详尽评估了SEBM Ti-6Al-4V晶格结构的机械响应的现有文献的文献质量。大量的数据集使人们可以新颖地洞察晶格设计对机械响应的影响，而单个数据是不可能的。并为那些积极参与特定于患者的SEBM植入物设计的人员提供了一个全面的数据库。