Evaluation of the mechanical compatibility of additively manufactured porous Ti–25Ta alloy for load-bearing implant applications

Integrating porous networks in load-bearing implants is essential in order to improve mechanical compatibility with the host tissue. Additive manufacturing has enabled the optimisation of the mechanical properties of metallic biomaterials, notably with the use of novel periodic regular geometries as porous structures. In this work, we successfully produced solid and lattice structures made of Ti–25Ta alloy with selective laser melting (SLM) using a Schwartz primitive unit-cell for the first time. The manufacturability and repeatability of the process was assessed through macrostructural and microstructural observations along with compressive testing. The mechanical properties are found to be suitable for bone replacement applications, showing significantly reduced elastic moduli, ranging from 14 to 36 GPa depending on the level of porosity. Compared to the conventionally used biomedical Ti–6Al–4V alloy, the Ti–Ta alloy offers superior mechanical compatibility for the targeted applications with lower elastic modulus, similar strength and higher ductility, making the Ti–25Ta alloy a promising candidate for a new generation of load-bearing implants.