A personalized mandibular implant with supporting and porous structures designed with topology optimization – a case study of canine
ISSN: 1355-2546
Article publication date: 1 October 2018
Issue publication date: 25 February 2019
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to obtain a titanium mandibular implant that possesses a personalized external shape for appearance recovery, a supporting structure for physiological loading and numerous micro-pores for accelerating osseointegration.
Design/methodology/approach
A three-dimensional intact mandibular model of a beagle dog was created from cone-beam computerized tomography scans. A segment of the lower jaw bone was resected and replaced by a personalized implant with comprehensive structures including a customized external shape, supporting structures and micro-pores, which were designed by topology optimization. Then with FEM analysis, the stress, displacement distribution and compliance of the designed implant were compared with the non-optimized model. The weight of the optimized implant that was fabricated by SLM with titanium alloy powder was measured and contrasted with the predicted non-optimized model for evaluating the viability of the design.
Findings
The FEM results showed the peaks of von Mises stress and displacement on the optimized implant were much lower than those of the implant without optimization. With topology optimization, the compliance of the implant decreased significantly by 53.3 per cent, and a weight reduction of 37.2 per cent could be noticed.
Originality/value
A design strategy for personalized implant, with comprehensive structures and SLM as the fabrication method, has been developed and validated by taking a canine mandible as the case study. With comprehensive structures, the implant presented good biomechanical behaviors thanks to the most appropriate supporting structures obtained by optimal design. The topological optimal design combined with SLM printing proved to be an effective method for the design and fabrication of personalized implant with complex structures.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
This project is supported by the grants from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant no. 51775506 and 51375453), the Natural Science Foundation of Zhejiang Province (grant no. LY15H140007 and LY18E050022), Medical and Health Science and Technology Project of Zhejiang Province (grant no. 2018KY066), the College Students’ Science and Technology Innovation Project of Zhejiang Province (grant no. 2017R403089), the Health and Family Planning Commission of Zhejiang Province (grant no. 2018235400) and Science and Technology Guided Project of Quzhou City (grant no. 2016067). The authors are grateful to Dr. Yan-song Guo from the Department of Mechanical Engineering of the Katholieke University Leuven, Belgium, for his help in improving the English writing.
Citation
Cheng, K., Liu, Y., Yao, C., Zhao, W. and Xu, X. (2019), "A personalized mandibular implant with supporting and porous structures designed with topology optimization – a case study of canine", Rapid Prototyping Journal, Vol. 25 No. 2, pp. 417-426. https://doi.org/10.1108/RPJ-11-2017-0231
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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