Skip to main content
Log in

Comparison of the Fatigue Performance of Commercially Produced Nitinol Samples versus Sputter-Deposited Nitinol

  • Published:
Journal of Materials Engineering and Performance Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Self-expanding vascular implants are typically manufactured from Nitinol tubing, using laser cutting, shape setting, and electropolishing processes. The mechanical and fatigue behavior of those devices are affected by the raw material and its processing such as the melting process and subsequent warm and cold forming processes. Current trends focus on the use of raw material with fewer inclusions to improve the fatigue performance. Further device miniaturization and higher fatigue life requirements will drive the need toward smaller inclusions and new manufacturing methods. As published previously, the high-cycle fatigue region of medical devices from standard processed Nitinol is usually about 0.4-0.5% half-alternating strain. However, these results highly depend on the ingot and semi-finished materials, the applied manufacturing processes, the final dimensions of test samples, and applied test methods. Fabrication by sputter deposition is favorable, because it allows the manufacturing of micro-patterned Nitinol thin-film devices without small burrs, heat-affected zones, microcracks, or any contamination with carbides, as well as the fabrication of complex components e.g., 3D geometries. Today, however, there is limited data available on the fatigue behavior for real stent devices based on such sputter-deposited Nitinol. A detailed study (e.g., using metallographic methods, corrosion, tensile, and fatigue testing) was conducted for the first time in order to characterize the micro-patterned Nitinol thin-film material.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7
Fig. 8
Fig. 9
Fig. 10
Fig. 11

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. T.W. Duerig and A.R. Pelton, Ti-Ni Shape Memory Alloys, Material Properties Handbook Titanium Alloys, R. Boyer, G. Welsch, and E.W. Collings, Ed., ASM International, Materials Park, OH, 1994, p 1035–1048

    Google Scholar 

  2. A. Toro, F. Zhou, et.al. Characterization of Non-Metallic Inclusions in Superelastic NiTi Tubes, SMST Proceedings SMST2008, JMEPEG, vol. 18, 2009, p 448–458

  3. A.R. Pelton et al., Nitinol Fatigue: A Review of Microstructures and Mechanisms, SMST Proceedings SMST2010, JMEPEG, vol. 20, 2011, p 613–617

  4. N. Morgan, A. Wick, et al., Carbon and Oxygen Levels in Nitinol Alloys and the Implications for Medical Device Manufacture and Durability, Proceedings of the International Conference on SMST, May 7-11, 2006, p 821–828

  5. J.E. Schaffer, Structure-Property Relationships in Conventional and Nanocrystalline NiTi Intermetallic Alloy Wire, JMEPEG, 2009, 18, p 582–587

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. F. Sczerzenie, P. Graeme et al., Comparison of Inclusions in Cold Drawn Wire And Precursor Hot-Rolled Rod Coil in VIM-VAR Nickel-Titanium Alloy, JMEPEG, 2011, 20, p 752–756

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. A.R. Pelton, V. Schroeder et al., Fatigue and Durability of Nitinol Stents, J. Mech. Behav. Biomed. Mater., 2008, 1, p 153–164

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. S.W. Robertson, A.R. Pelton et al., Mechanical Fatigue and Fracture of Nitinol, Int. Mater. Rev., 2012, 57(1), p 1–36

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. R. Lima de Miranda, C. Zamponi, and E. Quandt, Micropatterned Freestanding Superelastic TiNi Films, Adv. Eng. Mater., 2013, 15(1-2), p 66–69

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. B. O’Brien, W.M. Caroll et al., Passivation of Nitinol Wire for Vascular Implants—A Demonstration of the Benefits, Biomaterials, 2992, 23, p 1739–1748

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. R. Venugipalan and C. Trepanier, Corrosion of Nitinol, Proceedings of the International Conference on SMST-2000, S. Russel and A. Pelton, Eds., 2000, Springer, New York, p 261–270

  12. K.N. Melton and O. Mercier, Fatigue of NiTi Thermoelastic Martensites, Acta Metall., 1979, 27(1), p 137–144

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Adler, P.H., Allen, J., et al., Martensite Transformations and Fatigue Behavior of Nitinol, J. ASTM Int., 2007, 4(7), DOI: 10.1520/JAI100645

  14. A. Mehta, X.-Y. Gong et al., Understanding the Deformation and Fracture of Nitinol Endovascular Stents Using In Situ Synchrotron x-ray Microdiffraction, Adv. Mater., 2007, 19, p 1183–1186

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. C. Maletta, Sgambittera et al., Fatigue of Pseudoelastic NiTi Within Stress-Induced Transformation Regime: A Modified Coffin-Manson Approach, Smart Mater. Struct., 2012, 21(112001), p 1–7

    Google Scholar 

  16. Y. Onuma and P. Serruys, Bioresorbable Scaffold—The Advent of a New Era in Percutaneous Coronary and Peripheral Revascularization?, Circulation, 2011, 123, p 779–797

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgment

The authors would like to thank Dr. Markus Wohlschlögel, Michael Quellmalz, Hannes Feldmann and Marcel Brock at Admedes Schuessler GmbH and Christoph Bechtold from Acquandas GmbH for technical discussion as well as sample fabrication.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Gerd Siekmeyer.

Additional information

This article is an invited paper selected from presentations at the International Conference on Shape Memory and Superelastic Technologies 2013, held May 20-24, 2013, in Prague, Czech Republic, and has been expanded from the original presentation.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Siekmeyer, G., Schüßler, A., de Miranda, R.L. et al. Comparison of the Fatigue Performance of Commercially Produced Nitinol Samples versus Sputter-Deposited Nitinol. J. of Materi Eng and Perform 23, 2437–2445 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11665-014-1101-x

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11665-014-1101-x

Keywords

Navigation