Implant and a method of making the implant and a method of calculating porosity of a porous material

Abstract

A method of making an implant having a porous portion is disclosed. The method comprises the following steps: obtaining an artificial foam containing porous portion; scanning the artificial foam to obtain a digital porous model; editing the digital porous model; assembling the digital porous model to form a digital porous block; editing the digital porous block to obtain a digital implant model; forming the implant by printing the digital implant model through a 3D printer. An implant and a method of calculating porosity a porosity of a porous material are also disclosed.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . An implant, wherein the implant has a substrate and a porous portion overlapping the substrate, the implant being made through the following steps:
 obtaining an artificial foam containing porous portion;   scanning the artificial foam to obtain a digital porous model;   editing the digital porous model;   assembling the digital porous model to form a digital porous block;   editing the digital porous block to obtain a digital implant model; and   forming the implant by printing the digital implant model through a 3D printer.   
     
     
         2 . The implant according to  claim 1 , wherein the step of editing the digital porous model comprises editing strut thickness and/or pore diameter of the digital porous model. 
     
     
         3 . The implant according to  claim 1 , wherein the step of editing the strut thickness and/or pore diameter in the digital porous model comprises scaling-up or shrinking-down the strut thickness and/or the pore diameter. 
     
     
         4 . The implant according to  claim 1 , wherein the step of assembling the digital porous model to form the digital porous block comprises patterning the digital porous model. 
     
     
         5 . The implant according to  claim 1 , wherein the step of assembling the digital porous model to form the digital porous block comprises patterning the digital porous model along three dimension of a Cartesian coordinate, a column coordinate, or a spherical coordinate. 
     
     
         6 . The implant according to  claim 1 , wherein the step of assembling the digital porous model comprises extracting an elementary porous unit from the digital porous model and combining a plurality of elementary porous units to form the digital porous block. 
     
     
         7 . The implant according to  claim 1 , wherein the step of editing the digital porous block comprises cutting the digital porous block into a digital porous layer and overlaying the digital porous layer onto a substrate to form the digital implant model. 
     
     
         8 . The implant according to  claim 7 , wherein the shape of the digital porous layer conforms to the shape of the implant to be formed, and the substrate conforms to the shape of the implant to be formed. 
     
     
         9 . The implant according to  claim 7 , wherein the step of overlaying the digital porous layer onto the substrate is accomplished by Boolean intersection. 
     
     
         10 . The implant according to  claim 7 , wherein the substrate is a solid substrate or a porous substrate. 
     
     
         11 . The implant according to  claim 1 , wherein the artificial foam containing porous portion is cut into a cube geometry prior to scanning. 
     
     
         12 . The implant according to  claim 11 , wherein the cube has a volume of less than 0.5 cubic inches. 
     
     
         13 . The implant according to  claim 1 , wherein scanning the artificial foam to obtain a digital porous model is accomplished by micro-CT. 
     
     
         14 . The implant according to  claim 1 , wherein the implant is further cleaned after 3D printing. 
     
     
         15 . The implant according to  claim 1 , wherein the implant is further grit blasted and/or coated after 3D printing. 
     
     
         16 . The implant according to  claim 1 , wherein the artificial foam is a reticulated foam selected from any of the following foams: polyurethane foam, carbon foam, ceramic coated carbon foam, metal coated carbon foam. 
     
     
         17 . The implant according to  claim 1 , wherein the artificial foam is a reticulated foam is selected from any of the following: aluminum coated carbon foam, copper coated carbon foam, nickel coated carbon foam, silicon carbide coated carbon foam, tantalum coated carbon foam, titanium nitride coated carbon foam, titanium carbide coated carbon foam, chromium coated carbon foam. 
     
     
         18 . A method of calculating a porosity of a porous material, the method comprising the steps of:
 obtaining a first porosity by measuring a porosity of the porous material by micro-CT scan;   obtaining an actual porosity by multiplying the first porosity by a porosity calibration factor.   
     
     
         19 . The calculation method according to  claim 18 , wherein the porosity calibration factor is obtained by the following steps:
 3D printing a first sample of a porous material and obtaining a true porosity of the first sample by a gravimetric and volumetric methodology;   3D printing a second sample of the porous material and measuring the porosity of the second sample by micro-CT scan;   the true porosity of the first sample being divided by the porosity of the second sample so as to obtain the porosity calibration factor.