Source: Buehler.com
Manufactured from titanium, 316L steel, cobalt chromium alloys, platinum chromium, titanium (Ti6Al4VELI) and nitinol alloys, medical stents are a critical component in treatments that require mesh scaffolding to open blocked vessels or ducts. In order to validate the thickness of the walls or strengthen the stent where modifications have taken place, manufacturers utilize laser machining, which can result in microstructural changes to the alloy. Heat treatment enters as a vital process to relieve internal stresses and improve fatigue properties.
“Nitinol stents which are generally self-expanding utilize the elastic properties of the alloy and require a shape-setting process to fix the final shape of the stent,” write Dr. E. Mogire and D. Crozet in a paper recently published by Buehler.
Read more: “Metallographic Preparation of Medical Implants – Stents, Orthopaedics…”
