This study aims to focus on optimization of process parameters for porosity and strength of polyamide porous bone scaffolds fabricated via selective laser sintering (SLS) process.
Taguchi’s design of experiment approach with L18 orthogonal array (OA) has been used to optimize the process parameters. Five process and four response parameters have been considered for this study. Initially, minimum size of the pores that can be depowdered was identified. Then, porous CAD models of test specimen to measure porosity and strength were designed in Solidworks® software and fabricated using EOSINT P395 m/c. Signal-to-noise ratio and analysis of variance were used to identify the optimal levels of parameters and statistical significance of the parameters.
Among five parameters, powder refresh rate, build chamber temperature and layer thickness were found to have significant influence on all the response parameters, whereas build orientation and build position were found insignificant for all the responses. The Taguchi’s confirmation test validated the results of the study with maximum deviation of 5.8% for compressive strength. Comparison of predicted and experimental values revealed a satisfactory predictability of all the developed linear regression models.
This study reveals optimal set of parameters for SLS of the polyamide porous bone scaffolds. The optimal set of parameters may be used by other researchers to get enhanced combination of strength and porosity while fabricating porous scaffolds.
