A biomimetic chiral auxetic vertebral meta-shell

The work presents a novel thin-walled biomimetic auxetic meta-shell for patient-specific vertebral orthopedic implants. The proposed design stemmed from the concept of an intrinsically multiple curved auxetic meta-structure, which is created by folding a two-dimensional bio-inspired chiral geometry according to the morphology of human vertebral cortical bones. Through a multi-view stereo digital image correlation system, we investigated the mechanical response of a bio-grade titanium (Ti6Al4V ELI) additively manufactured prototype of the meta-structure under compressive loadings. In addition, we analyzed the morphology of the prototype using a scanning electron microscopy and an optical image dimension measurement system both before and after compressive tests. An accurate Finite Element model, which exactly reproduced the geometry of the three-dimensional printed meta-shell, was implemented and calibrated against experimental results, obtaining a precise prediction tool of its mechanical response. The findings of this work demonstrate that the designed meta-shell shows a peculiar auxetic behavior, a targeted stiffness matching to that of human vertebral bone tissues and a higher global elastic strain capability compared to those of monolithic traditional vertebral body replacements.