Page 425 - IJB-10-1

International

Journal of Bioprinting

RESEARCH ARTICLE
Additive-manufactured synthetic bone model

with biomimicking tunable mechanical
properties for evaluation of medical implants

Ju Chan Yuk , Kyoung Hyup Nam *, and Suk Hee Park *
1
2
1
1 School of Mechanical Engineering, Pusan National University, Busan 46241, Republic of Korea
2 Department of Neurosurgery, Medical Research Institute, Pusan National University Hospital,
Pusan National University School of Medicine, Busan 46241, Republic of Korea

Abstract

Additive manufacturing has enabled the customization of biomedical systems,
including transplantable medical devices, to achieve mechanical biocompatibility.
For bone implants, patient-specific bone models must be used to evaluate the
mechanical properties of implant compression and subsidence. This study proposes
a methodology for designing and fabricating bone models to evaluate patient-
specific bone implants. The method involves three-dimensional printing of infill-
varied structure, with alternating high-low-high infill density regions, which
undergo sequential deformation from the surficial region during compression with
an implant. Based on this deformation behavior, the relationship between infill
density parameters and mechanical properties was confirmed with the tunability
*Corresponding authors: of mechanical properties involving stiffness and failure load. The infill-varied design
Suk Hee Park was applied to the inner structures of artificial vertebra models based on computed
(selome815@pusan.ac.kr) tomography scans for cadaver specimens. By tailoring the infill density conditions,
Kyoung Hyup Nam
(goodnsdoctor@daum.net) the stiffness and failure load were approximated to those of the natural vertebrae.
Furthermore, this infill-varied artificial vertebra could be used to evaluate additive-
Citation: Yuk JC, Nam KH, Park
SH. Additive-manufactured synthetic manufactured patient-specific implants. The patient-specific implant had greater
bone model with biomimicking resistance to subsidence than the commercial implant, suggesting the feasibility of a
tunable mechanical properties for biomimicking bone model. The bone-mimetic infill-varied structure could be used to
evaluation of medical implants. Int J
Bioprint. 2024;10(1):1067. evaluate patient-specific manufactured implants and could be applied to other bone
doi: 10.36922/ijb.1067 engineering structures with optimized biomechanical properties.
Received: June 12, 2023
Accepted: August 3, 2023 Keywords: Additive manufacturing; 3D printing; Tunable mechanical properties;
Published Online: January 10, 2024
Bone model; Implant evaluation
Copyright: © 2024 Author(s).
This is an Open Access article
distributed under the terms of the
Creative Commons Attribution
License, permitting distribution, 1. Introduction
and reproduction in any medium,
provided the original work is Additive manufacturing (AM) is considered a powerful tool for enhancing the
properly cited. mechanical, chemical, and biological properties of manufactured parts that are difficult
Publisher’s Note: AccScience to achieve through conventional processes. This has been driven through its broad use of
Publishing remains neutral with functional materials, design flexibility, and adaptable manufacturability. However, the
1-3
regard to jurisdictional claims in
published maps and institutional quality control of mechanical properties has been a long-standing challenge in that the
affiliations. additive-manufactured parts have unavoidable impairment and anisotropy regarding

Volume 10 Issue 1 (2024) 417 https://doi.org/10.36922/ijb.1067