Study of the compression behavior of functionally graded lattice for customized cranial remodeling orthosis

J Mech Behav Biomed Mater. 2022 Mar 23;130:105191. doi: 10.1016/j.jmbbm.2022.105191. Online ahead of print.ABSTRACTDeformational plagiocephaly is a head deformity that occurs in newborns, treated in severe cases with helmets named cranial remodeling orthoses (CRO). Current CROs can fail to adapt to head growth, causing excessive pressure sores and other complications, and may lead to poor clinical results. In this work, we experimentally and numerically study the compressive behavior of a functionally graded lattice that may be used in future work as a potential inner lining for a CRO with a customized density distribution. This work is divided into five stages. First, we describe the design of all lattices involved in the study. Second, we measure the mechanical properties of the bulk material used in the manufacturing of the lattices. Third, we study the effect of unit cell size variation, testing three homogenous body-centered cubic (BCC) lattices, and creating a numerical model for the prediction of the compressive behavior of various lattices with different unit cell sizes. Fourth, we study the effects of truss diameter variation, designing and testing three homogenous lattices with different truss diameters. Finally, we design a BCC lattice with a truss diameter gradient and analyze compressive deformations in numerical and experimental compression studies. The numerical simulations of the compression of the homogenous and graded lattices agree with the experimental mea...
Source: Journal of the Mechanical Behavior of Biomedical Materials - Category: Materials Science Authors: Source Type: research