Nitinol melting, manufacture and fabrication

Abstract

Manufacturing Nitinol medical devices presents a number of unique challenges. This paper provides a brief overview on how these challenges are commonly addressed, including: the extreme precision and cleanliness required of the melting process; the standard techniques for hot and cold working Nitinol; the standard product forms available; methods for shaping Nitinol parts; techniques for overcoming the difficulties of machining Nitinol parts; proven methods for joining Nitinol components; and a number of ways to coat or finish the surfaces of Nitinol devices. A selection of Nitinol stents and a Nitinol guide-wire core are shown as illustrative examples of some of the various manufacturing techniques as they have been applied to specific medical devices.

Key Words:

• Nitinol
• melting
• fabrication
• heat treating
• grinding
• joining
• electropolishing