Pore size and pore volume effects on alumina and TCP ceramic scaffolds

Controlled porosity alumina and β-tricalcium phosphate ceramic scaffolds with pore sizes in the range of 300–500 μm and pore volumes in the range of 25–45% were processed using the indirect fused deposition process. Samples having different pore sizes with constant volume fraction porosity and different volume fractions porosity with a constant pore size were fabricated to understand the influence of porosity parameters on mechanical and biological properties. In vitro cell proliferation studies were carried out with OPC1 human osteoblast cell line for 28 days with different scaffolds. Variation in pore size did not show any conclusive differences, but samples with higher volume fraction porosity showed some evidence of increased cell growth. Volume fraction porosity also showed a stronger influence on the mechanical properties under uniaxial compression loading. Compression strength dropped significantly for samples with higher volume fraction porosity, but changed marginally when only the pore size was varied.