The bio-compatible dental implant designed by using non-stochastic porosity produced by Electron Beam Melting® (EBM)

The application of non-stochastic lattice structures for building a bio-compatible dental abutment is investigated. The bio-compatible dental implant should mimic the micro-motion of the natural tooth. Three different lattice structures including cross, honeycomb, and octahedral structures with different unit cell sizes were employed to produce lattice abutment made of Ti-6Al-4V by Electron Beam Melting (EBM). According to the results, by increasing the unit cell size, abutments showed more deformation; however, the maximum tolerated normal force decreased. The octahedral lattice structure with 2 mm unit cell size showed the best mechanical behavior under 400N normal biting force, and was selected to investigate the effect of biting force angle on the stress distribution developed in lattice abutment. Numerical analysis showed that alpha=30 degrees is a critical biting force angle, for which the maximum equivalent stress increased noticeably. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.