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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Bioeng. Biotechnol.
Sec. Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine
Volume 12 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fbioe.2024.1410837

Comparing Ceramic Fischer-Koch-S and Gyroid TPMS Scaffolds for Potential in Bone Tissue Engineering

Provisionally accepted
Vail Baumer Vail Baumer 1Nelson Isaacson Nelson Isaacson 1Shashank Kanakamedala Shashank Kanakamedala 1Duncan McGee Duncan McGee 2Isabella Kaze Isabella Kaze 1,3David Prawel David Prawel 1,3,4*
  • 1 Department of Mechanical Engineering, Walter Scott Jr College of Engineering, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado, United States
  • 2 Department of Chemical and Biomedical Engineering, West Virginia University, Morgantown, Morgantown, West Virginia, United States
  • 3 School of Biomedical Engineering, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado, United States
  • 4 School of Materials Science and Engineering, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, United States

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Triply Periodic Minimal Surfaces (TPMS), such as Gyroid, are widely accepted for bone tissue engineering due to their interconnected porous structures with tunable properties that enable high surface area to volume ratios, energy absorption, and relative strength. Among these topologies, the Fischer-Koch-S (FKS) has also been suggested for compact bone scaffolds, but few studies have investigated these structures beyond computer simulations. FKS scaffolds have been fabricated in metal and polymer, but to date none have been fabricated in a ceramic used in bone tissue engineering (BTE) scaffolds. This study is the first to fabricate ceramic FKS scaffolds and compare them with the more common Gyroid topology. Results showed that FKS scaffolds were 32% stronger, absorbed 49% more energy, and had only 11% lower permeability than Gyroid scaffolds when manufactured at high porosity (70%). Both FKS and Gyroid scaffolds displayed strength and permeability in the low range of trabecular long bones with high reliability (Weibull failure probability) in the normal direction. Fracture modes were further investigated to explicate the quasi-brittle failure exhibited by both scaffold topologies, exploring stress-strain relationships along with scanning electron microscopy for failure analysis. Considering the physical aspects of successful BTE scaffolds, FKS scaffolds appear to be more promising for further study as bone regeneration scaffolds than Gyroid due to their higher compressive strength and reliability, at only a small penalty to permeability. In the context of BTE, FKS scaffolds may be better suited than Gyroids to applications where denser bone and strength is prioritized over permeability, as suggested by earlier simulation studies.

    Keywords: Fischer-Koch-S, Gyroid, TPMS, Scaffold, Permeability, Compressive Strength, Robocasting, bone tissue engineering

    Received: 01 Apr 2024; Accepted: 30 Jul 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Baumer, Isaacson, Kanakamedala, McGee, Kaze and Prawel. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: David Prawel, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Walter Scott Jr College of Engineering, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, 80523, Colorado, United States

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.