The effect of stress concentrations on fatigue and fracture of 316L stainless steel micro-scale components

Abstract

The aim of this work was to investigate the fatigue and fracture behaviour of microscopic specimens based on a biomedical component (the cardiovascular stent) and to modify existing theories to take account of the observed effects. A stent is a cylindrical wire mesh that is used to scaffold open stenosed arteries in order to retain a sufficient blood flow. Different 316L stainless steel microscopic specimens were designed and tested, which contained notches representing stent-like features. Typical sizes of stent wires are around 100μm, giving only about 10 grains along the width and thickness of the wires.