AccScience Publishing / IJB / Online First / DOI: 10.36922/IJB026220222
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RESEARCH ARTICLE
Early Access

Data-driven design and mechanical validation of 3D-printed biphasic osteochondral scaffolds with interlocking interface using Ti6Al4V

Yi Tang1 Zhenlan Xia2 Jing Zeng3 Rui Zhu2 Chengyue Yan2 Tengfei Fan2 Yupeng Hu2 Zhuoxuan He2 Yuanlong Li4* Zhao Wang2* Jun Tang1*
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1 Department of Orthopedics, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University, Wenzhou, 325805, China
2 Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Guangzhou Key Laboratory of Spine Disease Prevention and Treatment, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Major Obstetric Diseases, Guangdong Provincial Clinical Research Center for Obstetrics and Gynecology, The Third Affiliated Hospital, Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou, 510150, China
3 Department of Orthopedics, Liwan central Hospital of Guangzhou, Guangzhou, 510000, China
4 Orthopaedics, Sun Yat-Sen Memorial Hospital, Sun Yat-Sen University, 107 Yanjiangxi Road, Guangzhou, Guangdong, 510120, China
Received: 28 May 2026 | Revised: 5 June 2026 | Accepted: 22 June 2026 | Published online: 25 June 2026
(This article belongs to the Special Issue 3D Printing in Clinical Application)
© 2026 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

Osteochondral defects require biomimetic scaffolds. These scaffolds must simultaneously reproduce the mechanical heterogeneity of subchondral bone and maintain stable integration between the bone and cartilage regions. In this study, we developed a data-driven design and validation framework for patient-specific biphasic Ti6Al4V osteochondral scaffolds using public computed tomography (CT) datasets and finite element optimization. CT images from the Osteoarthritis Initiative (OAI) database were analyzed to extract Hounsfield unit (HU) distributions and derive anisotropic mechanical parameters through density–elasticity mapping, yielding three representative design targets corresponding to low-, medium-, and high-density cancellous bone. Gradient Gyroid scaffolds with region-specific porosity and strut parameters were subsequently designed to match these physiological targets. To improve osteochondral integration, an interlocking interface architecture incorporating peg-based mechanical anchoring was optimized using parametric finite element response surface modeling and Bayesian optimization. The scaffolds were fabricated via selective laser melting (SLM) using Ti6Al4V powder and comprehensively characterized through quasi-static compression, hemispherical indentation, and interface shear testing. The fabricated scaffolds exhibited high geometric fidelity with average dimensional deviations below 0.15 mm. The measured macroscopic compressive moduli demonstrated excellent manufacturing fidelity, deviating by less than 10% from the CT-derived design targets across all density groups, thereby offering a viable path to mitigate clinical stress shielding. Furthermore, the optimized interlocking interface profoundly augmented both indentation stiffness and destructive interface shear strength over smooth-interface controls (p < 0.01), closely matching the finite element predictions of minimized stress concentration at the osteochondral junction. Taken together, these findings demonstrate that CT-informed, topology-optimized Ti6Al4V scaffold architectures can achieve precisely matched porous mechanics while substantially expanding interface stability, providing a highly reproducible and translatable strategy for personalized load-bearing joint repair applications.

Keywords
Osteochondral scaffold
Ti6Al4V
Gyroid lattice
Interlocking interface
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International Journal of Bioprinting, Electronic ISSN: 2424-8002 Print ISSN: 2424-7723, Published by AccScience Publishing