Metal Additive Manufacturing Conference - MAMC 2023

The Selective Laser Melting (SLM) process commonly known as Laser-based Powder Bed Fusion (LB-PBF), enables the production of structures with unprecedented degrees of freedom that represents an excellent condition for development of metallic implants for biomedical applications. In this study, the effects of laser energy density on relative density and microstructure (presence of internal defects) of cp-TiGd2 fabricated by LB-PBF are studied. Additionally, the influence of printing orientation and different surface treatments on surface topography, fatigue behaviour and biocompatibility are investigated. The aim of the research is to develop additive manufacturing (AM) process parameters that can achieve full density of cp-TiGd2 with long fatigue life and satisfactory biocompatibility, as a low-cost alternative to biomedical materials such as Ti-6Al-4V and Ti-6Al-7Nb.