Additive Manufacturing of Porous Silicon Nitride Inspired by Triply Periodic Minimal Surface

Triply periodic minimal surface (TPMS) has been widely used in biology due to its excellent biological, controllable mechanical, and material transport properties. In this study, four types of TPMS structures with silicon nitride (Si3N4) ceramic were successfully prepared using digital light processing (DLP) with different minimal surface equations. The influence of different TPMS structures on the mechanical and biological properties of Si3N4 ceramic was systematically investigated. Results indicated a better cell proliferation ability in the D structure compared with three other structures, with favorable compressive strength and Young's modulus of 51.84 +/- 8.85 MPa and 3.33 +/- 0.08 GPa, respectively.