A comparison of degradation rate bone scaffold morphology between computer simulation and experimental approach

Abstract

The objective of this research is to validate the behavior of degradation rate within porous magnesium scaffolds in terms of morphological which includes weight loss after degradation by means of micro-computed tomography (µCT) based on image processing. The main contribution of this work is finding another method to determine morphology based on computer simulation. In the present study, bone scaffold specimens made of pure magnesium that was prepared with three different percentages of porosities 30%, 41%, and 55%. There were immersed and subjected to the dynamic flow rate of simulated body fluid for periods of 24, 48 and 72 hours. One sample of each specimen was scanned by µCT with a resolution of 17 µm. The cross-sections of raw data were superimposed by using MIMICS software to form a 3D reconstruction of the samples after degradation. The degradation morphology was collected from the simulation and showed good agreement with the experimental results by only less than 2%. Based on the simulation results, it is possible to give a recommendation for the alternative way in the morphological study of orthopedic applications.