Porosity and pore size effect on the properties of sintered Ti35Nb4Sn alloy scaffolds and their suitability for tissue engineering applications

Our results on the importance of tailoring porosity engineered materials for cell regeneration were published in the Journal of Alloys and Compounds.

Porous scaffolds manufactured via powder metallurgy and sintering were designed for their structure (i.e. pore size and porosity) and mechanical properties (stiffness, strength) to be controlled and tailored to mimic those of human bone. The scaffolds were realised to fulfill three main objectives:

(i) to obtain values of stiffness and strength similar to those of trabecular (or spongy) bone, with a view of exploiting these as bone grafts that permit cell regeneration,

(ii) to establish a relationship between stiffness, strength and density that allows tailoring for mass customisation to suit patient’s needs; and

(iii) to assess alloy cytotoxicity and biocompatibility via in vitro studies.

The results obtained using a very low stiffness alloy (Ti35Nb4Sn) further lowered with the introduction of nominal porosity (30–70%) with pores in the ranges 180–300 μm and 300–500 μm showed compatibility for anatomical locations typically subjected to implantation and bone grafting (femoral head and proximal tibia). The regression fitting parameters for the linear and power law regressions were similar to those found for bone specimens, confirming a structure favourable to capillary network formation. Biological tests confirmed non-cytotoxicity of the alloy.

Scaffolds of porosity nominal 50%vol and pore range 300–500 μm performed best in the adhesion and propagation assays due to a good balance between surface area and pore cavity volume.

Study on bio-mechanical properties of porosity scaffolds tailored for cell regeneration, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jallcom.2017.10.026

A pre-view of the article appears on Journal of Alloys and Compounds, Volume 731, 15 January 2018, Pages 189-199, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jallcom.2017.10.026.

 

Congratulations Hugo!

MMM Lab researcher Hugo Bell has successfully defended his PhD work entitled “Assessing the Suitability of Titanium Scaffold Architectures and Alloy Compositions for Bone Tissue Engineering“.

Big congratulations and well done, Hugo!

The PhD is a journey…

A very eventful PhD journey (incl affected by COVID disruption) but you made it through ! Your perseverance paid off !

More info about Hugo’s work can be found here, here and here.

We are very proud of you.

Hugo’s next stage has already commenced! He has joined ADVANCED BIOPROCESS SERVICES LIMITED in the Loughborough Science Park, fulfilling his dream of bringing together research work in a SME environemnt with a strong sense of purpose and value-added vision.

Good luck in your future endeavours!

Ben Sargeant’s Graduation Ceremony

We congratulate MMM Lab Alumnus Ben Sargeant on his Graduation with a First Honours Class in MEng Mechanical Engineering. Top of the class, Ben has been an example of intellect, commiment, hard work, creativity, problem-solving skills, fearlessness and high integrity during his undergraduate studies. A wonderful team player who always cared about others’ work and supported them, and someone who I could trust truly with the scientific decisions he made. We were very lucky to have him joining the lab for his Dissertation project, and also as a bursar at a later date.

Some examples of the outputs generated at that time, and that he led or very significantly contributed to, are here, here and here.

Ben is now pursuing a PhD at Imperial College in the topic of Nuclear Energy. We wish him all the very best and we will continue rooting for him all the way!

MMM Lab celebration 2022

As the year 2022 came to a close, the MMM Lab gathered to celebrate the multiple achievements during the year 2022. The MMM PhDs gave a brief presentation to the academics, technicians and admin staff who help us everyday in everything that we do. It goes without saying that we could not do our research without their helping hand.

Mudassar, Shangmou and Hugo presented the main findings from their work this year and the impact it has.

It often happens that technicians and admin staff ask very good questions, and once again we ended the meeting wondering why we don’t do this more often, so they also get to know what’s going on in the hustle and bustle of the labs and offices we populate!

Thanks to all for coming and we will do this again next year!

Lego and Fluidics

MMM Intern Atila Halim has worked with us this year to configure pressure drop and flow rate so that we could recapitulate physiological forces and sresses through porous structures to mimic those that occur in the human body.

For that purpose we used LEGO Mindstorms®, a simple but very effective way to control flow and programme for repeatible and consistent experiments. Our prototype was able to produce flow rates from 50 to 250+ ml/s in a consistent fashion.

Good luck to Atila in his future endeavours. He finishes his internship in the MMM Lab well versed on power, macrofluidics and piping!

MMM Alumnus Mohammad visits the Lab

Dr Alqahtani, who worked in the MMM Lab from 2015 to 2019, visited us on the 28th Sept 2022.

Mohammad worked on multifunctional surfaces with active properties to activate prodrugs. His work can be seen here, here and here. His work was published here and here.

Great to see you again Mohammad!

Cooking with Sound videos – behind the scenes

Daniel Wilson has been working with us in the MMM Lab this summer on the production of animations and videos for the ‘Cooking with Sound’ project.

As a young Graphic Designer he has had the opportunity to work with us, Engineers and Scientists, in a topic very different to his usual assignments, and he writes about this experience:

I would like to thank you [for] an invaluable experience I have gained throughout these 10 weeks. I thoroughly enjoyed working on the motion design for the Cooking With Sound project and felt invested in the study.

Working with Daniel has been a very interesting venture for us too, because he showed us how to use techniques such as storyboards and animations that were new to us.

This is the storyboard Daniel created for the Cooking Jam with Sound video

In his own words, what most surprised him about this project is this:

“The human audible range sits between 20 hertz and 20 kilohertz. Anything above this higher limit is ultrasound”

“This video shows a schematic of the type of transducer used in Cooking with Sound. A transducer like this converts electricity into mechanical motion. Subsequently this motion creates pressure waves that make particles vibrate in a medium, for example, water, cream or jam”

“The transducer used in this work produces a longitudinal wave with a working frequency larger than 20 kilohertz…But we can’t hear it, because the human ear is only reaches up to 20 kilohertz. Various frequencies are used for different end products.”

“In the Cooking with Sound process, jam has been treated within a range of frequency that goes from 20 to 100 kilohertz”

“Energising the cooking process of the jam with ultrasound allows us to cook it quicker and at a lower temperature than in the traditional process. This is how ‘Cooking With Sound’ works.”

Working with Daniel on the design of the animations for cream products

Thank you for your work Daniel and best wishes for the upcoming academic year.

Welcome Mudassar

The MMM Lab welcomes Mudassar Khalil, our newest member.

Mudassar has arrived!

Mudassar’s work will focus on design, manufacture and validation of porous materials and multifunctional structures.

Mudassar holds a Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from UET Lahore, Pakistan and Master’s degree in Polymer Technology from Aalen University, Germany. In his master’s thesis, he worked on developing the part design rules for pin headers to control the warpage problem by simulation and practical application.

After his master’s degree, he worked for 12 years in academia. He taught design and manufacturing courses and supervised undergraduate student projects. He worked on the preliminary design of an automatic pipe cleaning system in collaboration with the college research center and the client industry. In addition, he was involved in curriculum development, ETAC/ABET accreditation, E-Learning and E-Testing activities during his academic career. His area of technical expertise is CAD/CAM/CAE, DfAM, FDM technology and tool manufacturing.

He brings a bucket-load of experience, both in academia/research and industry, and we are sure he will be making great process in a very short timespan.

Welcome Mudassar !!

Dr James Borgman graduates

MMM Lab Alumnus, James Borgman graduated on the 22nd of July 2022. It was delightful to see him on stage, so happy and thrilled, getting confirmed as a PhD. Congratulations James!

James on stage during his Graduation Ceremony

He then surprised us with a visit to the Lab during our weekly Lab meeting! (and ended up getting his sleeves rolled up, helping us clear a few of the actions from the ‘Action Log’). Thank you James 🙂

There were many accomplishments during his PhD and examples of his work can be found here, here, here and here.

Wolfson Research Conference 2022

This year’s edition of the 2022 Wolfson Research Conference had a few of the MMM Lab members in attendance and also presenting:

Hugo Bell presented his current work on the Investigation of Nb, Sn, Ta & Zr Titanium Alloys for Bone Engineering Purposes. He presented his poster at the event.

Hugo presenting with poster at the Conference. Photo credit: Willow Hall

Cheuk Ying Tam gave a talk about her work on Phosphonic Acid Self-Assembled Monolayers on Titanium. More info can be found here.

Shangmou Yang attended this Conference for the first time and he talked about his work on the Design, manufacture and validation of biodegradable bulk metallic glasses for orthopaedic applications. His abstract can be read here:

abstract_shangmou-yangDownload

MMM Lab members presented at this Conference, 2022 ed.

Well done to all of them! You do us proud.