Computer simulation is an important tool for medical device companies and designers to reduce expensive prototyping and testing. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s Center for Device and Radiological Health (CRY) is seeing a growing number of submissions for medical devices that include a simulation-data component.

New FDA guidance for Nitinol used in medical devices includes clarification on the determination of safety factors, the requirements for corrosion testing, and proper labeling of potentially harmful elements.

Novel methods for altering the mechanical properties of functionally graded orthodontic medical devices leads to new applications. This article highlights recent applications of selective vaporization to enable functional grading of shape memory alloys in medical devices for the dental industry.

The development of biocompatible resins and improvements in stereolithography are driving innovations in drug delivery, biosensing, diagnostic testing, and surgical devices and procedures.

Ultra-short femtosecond laser technology offers sub-400 fs pulses, high beam quality, and peak power that enables a high quality, cold ablation cutting process rather than a melt ejection process. Resulting cuts require minimal post processing and the small beam size allows machining of very fine details. The edge quality possible with a femtosecond laser for both metals and plastics makes it useful for machining heart, brain, and eye stents (both nitinol and cobalt-chrome), catheters, heart valves, and polymer tubing.

Using a physical vapor deposition process to manufacture medical device components reduces post-processing time and improves materials properties. This article addresses metallic sputter deposition technologies for Nitinol medical devices.

This article explores two case studies regarding use of materials data and software educational tools to analyze biocompatibility related to implantable medical devices. The example applications are glass-ceramic scaffolds and suture anchor implants.

With actuation capabilities that respond to temperature or light, the potential uses for shape memory polymers (SMPs) in the biomedical arena are on the rise. This article describes current and potential future uses of SMPs for medical devices.

The effects of Nitinol micropurity on the durability of superficial femoral artery stents offers a potential way to enhance durability and reduce fatigue fractures. This article describes recent work on superior grades of “microclean” Nitinol and the effects on fatigue and durability of the devices.

This article presents examples of engineered parts where PEEK (polyether ether ketone) thermoplastics have replaced traditional materials such as stainless steel, aluminum, titanium, and glass.

This article reports on a multifaceted testing and modeling approach to investigate the fatigue life of medical grade Nitinol to one billion cycles. The goal of a the research is to understand the mechanism of Nitinol ultra-high cycle fatigue and to eventually be able to predict when fracture will occur.

Digital image correlation data and Bayesian inference used together facilitate rigorous quantification of the uncertainty in material input parameters for finite element simulations of superelastic deformation.

In recognition of ASM International's 100-year anniversary, AM&P highlights historic events and technological advancements that occurred over the course of those years. This issue extends the timeline from 2004 to 2013, which includes the launch of several digital resources (Micrograph Center, Failure Analysis Center, Alloy Phase Diagrams Center, Medical Materials Database), a new publication ( Thermal Spray & Surface Engineering ), and a new Affiliate Society (Shape Memory and Superelastic Technologies).

For those who are active within the thermal spray industry, 2017 offered a dramatic mix of jubilation and concern over conditions within the global thermal spray market. This article briefly reviews some of the market factors influencing the industry in 2017 and future outlook.

As a regular contributor to the HTPro eNewsletter, Professor Induction answers a wide variety of questions regarding induction heating and heat treating. Included here are three recent challenges and solutions.

A look at how companies in regulated industries can test materials to produce higher quality metal components with additive manufacturing.

Heat treaters are discovering new opportunities in the rapidly expanding field of additive manufacturing. This article describes some of the opportunities and challenges for heat treaters in this technology area.

Nitinol fatigue fracture surfaces generally exhibit similar features to most engineering alloys, including a flat fracture plane, ratchet marks, radial lines, beachmarks, and striations.

News about ASM members, chapters, events, awards, conferences, affiliates, and other society activities. Topics include: ASM International announces change in executive leadership, 2012 class of ASM Fellows.

This guide outlines recent advances in the various methods of laser technology and appropriate manufacturing applications. Each process has unique requirements and matching the laser source to the project is essential for developing a robust solution.