We describe our techniques for making paper devices using nitinol wire, gold foil, and paper. We outline an evolutionary approach to enable end-users to design their own paper devices.

Several key fracture-mechanics parameters associated with the onset of subcritical and critical cracking, specifically the fracture toughness, crack-resistance curve, and fatigue threshold, have recently been reported for the superelastic alloy Nitinol, in the product form of the thin-walled tube that is used to manufacture several biomedical devices, most notably endovascular stents. In this s...

Fig. 1. (a) Oblique view from top of a self-expanding nitinol stent (length 28 mm, diameter 24 mm, Nitinol Devices & Components Inc., Fremont, CA, USA) containing a three leaflet polyurethane valve. Leaflets have a thickness of approximately 100—150 mm. The stent valves are produced in a dip coating technique (by Mecora GmbH, Aachen, Germany). (b) Low-profile polyurethane valved stent was folde...

OBJECTIVE Use of the SMart piston, a nitinol-based, self-crimping prosthesis in stapes surgery may allow improved functional results because of better sound transmission properties at the incus-prosthesis interface because of the elimination of manual crimping. Possible disadvantages include thermal damage or strangulation of the incus and its mucoperiosteum or nickel intolerance. The goal of t...

At present the main cause of death originates from cardiovascular diseases. Primarily the most frequent cause is vessel closing thus resulting in tissue damage. The stent can help to avoid this. It expands the narrowed vessel section and allows free blood flow. The good surface quality of stents is important. It also must have adequate mechanical characteristics or else it can be damaged which ...

This study presents results from an effort to fabricate a shape memory alloy hybrid composite (SMAHC) panel specimen and test the structure for dynamic response and noise transmission characteristics under the action of thermal and random acoustic loads. A method for fabricating a SMAHC laminate with bi-directional SMA reinforcement is described. Glass-epoxy unidirectional prepreg tape and Niti...

The objective of this work is to investigate how effective smart materials are for generating the motion of a robot. Because of the unique method of locomotion, an evolutionary algorithm is used to evolve the best combination of smart wire activations to move most efficiently. For this purpose, a robot snake was built that uses Nitinol wire as muscles in order to move. The most successful metho...

Femoral artery; Nitinol stent; Material properties; Mechanical performance; Finite element analysis. Abstract The Finite element method was used for evaluation of the effects of material properties on the mechanical performance of the new geometry designed for the Z-shaped open-cell femoral artery selfexpanding stent, made of Nitinol wire, by application of crushing force. The behavior of the s...

BACKGROUND Osteogenesis imperfecta is a genetic disorder of connective tissue causing mostly left-sided heart valves and aortic root pathologies, but a coronary artery involvement reflecting an increased sensitivity to cardiovascular risk factors is also suspected in this patient population. CASE PRESENTATION We report a 38-year-old patient with an osteogenesis imperfecta and a typical presen...