AccScience Publishing / IJB / Online First / DOI: 10.36922/IJB025390401
RESEARCH ARTICLE

Design and performance of 3D-printed cross-scale metamaterial porous structures for orthopedic implants

Guoqing Zhang1* Junxin Li2 Congcong Shangguan3 Juanjuan Xie1 Yongsheng Zhou1 Aibing Huang4 Yuchao Bai5
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1 Department of Mechanical Design and Manufacturing, School of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, Zhoukou Normal University, Zhoukou, Henan, China
2 Contract Section, State owned Assets Management Office, Zhoukou Normal University, Zhoukou, Henan, China
3 Veterinary Laboratory, Shangzhou District Animal Health Supervision Institute, Shangluo, Shaanxi, China
4 Department of Orthopedics, Taizhou People’s Hospital Affiliated to Nanjing Medical University, Taizhou, Jiangsu, China
5 Department of Mechanical Engineering, School of Robotics and Advanced Manufacture, Harbin Institute of Technology, Shenzhen, Guangdong, China
Received: 27 September 2025 | Accepted: 11 October 2025 | Published online: 14 October 2025
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Additive Manufacturing of Functional Biomaterials-Series2)
© 2025 by the Author(s). This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License ( https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ )
Abstract

The rising prevalence of orthopedic conditions in aging populations has created a growing demand for advanced implants with enhanced biocompatibility, mechanical performance, and tissue integration. To meet these demands, it is necessary to investigate the metamaterial properties of cross-scale porous structures, including both macroscale architecture and microscale texture. Accordingly, we employed parametric modeling to design porous structures; analyzed blood flow distribution through various multi-level porous designs using mold flow simulation; evaluated their compressive properties through finite element analysis; assessed biocompatibility via animal experiments; and obtained tissue ingrowth data using micro-computed tomography. The results indicated that when fluid flowed through cross-scale porous structures, the overall pressure was low, and the Kelvin cell structure exhibited favorable flow field characteristics under low pressure. When the structures were pressurized, texturization methods involving material removal resulted in larger displacements, while those involving material addition led to smaller displacements. The Kelvin cell structure exhibited extensive tissue ingrowth with a dense tissue pattern internally, and the amount of ingrowth decreased from the inside to the outside. Increasing the roughness of porous structures via material removal increased the surface-to-volume ratio to a certain extent but did not promote tissue ingrowth. In contrast, increasing roughness by material addition favored tissue ingrowth, laying a foundation for the design of cross-scale metamaterial implants.

Graphical abstract
Keywords
3D printing
Biocompatibility
Mechanical properties
Metamaterial
Porous structure
Funding
The study was funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant no. 52575470), Natural Science Foundation Project of Henan Province (grant no. 252300421971) and the Zhoukou Science and Technology Plan Project (grant no. ZKSKJGG 100084).
Conflict of interest
The authors declare no conflicts of interest.
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International Journal of Bioprinting, Electronic ISSN: 2424-8002 Print ISSN: 2424-7723, Published by AccScience Publishing