Microstructure-sensitive Fatigue Modeling of Medical-grade Fine Wire

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This work would not have come to fruition were it not for the assistance and support I received from a great many people. I would like to express my thanks to my advisor, Dr. Richard Neu for providing direction throughout the research process, and for his expertise and helpful advice. I would also like to thank the members of my committee, Dr. David McDowell and Dr. Markus Reiterer for their feedback and input to the development of the model. The financial sponsorship of Dr. Reiterer of Medtronic, PLC through a grant to the Center for Computational Materials Design is gratefully acknowledged. Furthermore, the calibration data provided by Jim Hallquist of Medtronic, PLC was critical to the success of the model. I would also like to thank a number of my colleagues at Georgia Tech for their helpful insights and suggestions. I am particularly indebted to Dr. Gustavo Castelluccio, whose frequent consultations were a great aid to my development as a researcher and to the thoroughness of the research. I would also like to thank Dr. William Musinski for conversations on modeling techniques and my lab-mates Kyle Brindley and Ashley Nelson for providing a sounding board for new ideas. Lastly, I would like to express my gratitude to my parents, for nurturing my interest in the sciences and to my wife, Audrey for her love, patience and encouragement throughout my studies.