Binder Jet Additive Manufacturing of Stainless Steel - Tricalcium Phosphate Biocomposite for Bone Scaffold and Implant Applications

Scaffolds are 3D biocompatible structures that mimic the extracellular matrix properties (mechanical support, cellular activity and protein production) of bones and provide place for cell attachment and bone tissue formation. Their performance depends on chemistry, pore size, pore volume, and mechanical strength. Recently, additive manufacturing (AM) has been used as a means to produce these scaffolds. This paper explores a new biocomposite manufactured using Binder Jet AM process. Stainless steel and tricalcium phosphate are combined to form a composite and used in different volume fractions to produce parts with varying densities. Layer thickness, sintering time and sintering temperature are varied to study the effect of process parameters on the microstructure, dimensions and mechanical properties of the resulting structure. It is found that the resulting biocomposite can be tailored by varying the process to change its properties and mimic the properties of scaffolds in bone tissue applications.Mechanical Engineerin