Porosity Characterization of Sintered Titanium Scaffolds for Surgical Implants

Porosity and pore size are critical features for biomaterial scaffolds as they play an essential role in bone formation and bone ingrowth in vivo. Therefore, techniques for scaffolds evaluation are of great importance for their design and processing. Porous titanium has been used for grafts and implant coatings as it allows the mechanical interlocking of the pores and bone. In this study, porous titanium samples were manufactured by powder metallurgy. The porosity quantification was assessed by optical quantitative metallographic analysis, and non-destructive gamma-ray transmission and X-ray microtomography techniques, in order to compare their efficacy for porosity evaluation. Pore morphology and surface topography were characterized via scanning electron microscopy. These techniques have demonstrated to be suitable for titanium scaffolds evaluation, and micro-CT was the one that allowed the three-dimensional porosity assessment.