Generating STL for forming trabecular bone structure in additive manufacturing using cell dynamics modeling

Generating STL for forming trabecular bone structure in additive manufacturing using cell dynamics modeling

ROCHA Adones A., THIRÉ Rossana M.S.M., ARAUJO Anna-Carla

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Abstract. There are two types of structures in bone with different densities: cortical bone, a denser region, and trabecular bone, a porous part. Poly(lactic acid) – PLA, a biopolymer widely used in additive manufacturing (AM), can be applied for fabricate products for medical and dental applications since it is biodegradable and biocompatible to several mammalian cell lines. This article proposes a methodology for generating STL to produce by AM a structure with geometry similar to that of trabecular bone using a mathematical model that describes the population dynamics of bone cells. Bone density values obtained by solving the differential equations model with finite differences are used to develop a mesh surface. This surface is converted into a binarized mesh using a binary algorithm and, finally, the STL file is obtained by applying the multidimensional arrays tool from Matlab® software. The produced file is analyzed by BoneJ® using the same procedure currently applied for bone tomography to obtain some geometry parameters as trabecular thickness, trabecular separation, bone fraction and connectivity; and the degree of anisotropy. 3D Printed samples were successfully produced by Fused Filament Fabrication (FFF) using PLA filament. It was noticed that the produced structure is similar to the morphology of the trabecular part of the femoral head, comparing the different strategies of obtain STL and real bone tomography.

Keywords
Additive Manufacturing, FFF, Biopolymers, STL Generation, Trabecular Bone

Published online 4/19/2023, 10 pages
Copyright © 2023 by the author(s)
Published under license by Materials Research Forum LLC., Millersville PA, USA

Citation: ROCHA Adones A., THIRÉ Rossana M.S.M., ARAUJO Anna-Carla, Generating STL for forming trabecular bone structure in additive manufacturing using cell dynamics modeling, Materials Research Proceedings, Vol. 28, pp 169-178, 2023

DOI: https://doi.org/10.21741/9781644902479-19

The article was published as article 19 of the book Material Forming

Content from this work may be used under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 license. Any further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the title of the work, journal citation and DOI.

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