Fabrication of highly porous titanium scaffolds using metal injection moulding and space holder

Highly porous and biocompatible titanium scaffolds were fabricated using metal injection moulding of spherical titanium powder (powder size: -45 µm) with potassium chloride (powder size: -250 µm) as a temporary space holder. Property evaluation of scaffolds with different porosity fractions, confirmed a high level of compatibility between their mechanical properties and those of human cortical bone. The optimum sintering temperature was found to be 1250 °C producing scaffolds with more than 90% interconnected pores in the size range of 200-250 µm, Yield stress of 220 MPa and Young's modulus of 7.80 GPa, all of which are suitable for bone tissue engineering. Increasing the sintering temperature to 1300 °C increased the Young's modulus to 22.0 GPa, while reducing the temperature to 1150 °C reduced the yield stress to 120 MPa due to incomplete sintering.