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High Speed In Situ Synchrotron Observation of Cyclic Deformation and Phase Transformation of Superelastic Nitinol at Ultrasonic Frequency

Fitzka, M. ; Rennhofer, H. ; Catoor, D. ; Reiterer, M. ; Lichtenegger, H. ; Checchia, S. LU orcid ; di Michiel, M. ; Irrasch, D. ; Gruenewald, T. A. and Mayer, H. (2020) In Experimental Mechanics 60(3). p.317-328
Abstract

The near equi-atomic intermetallic Ni Ti alloy Nitinol is used for medical implants, notably in self-expanding stent grafts and heart valve frames, which are subjected to several hundred million load cycles in service. Increasing the testing frequency to the ultrasonic range would drastically shorten the testing times and make the very-high cycle regime experimentally accessible. Such tests are, however, only meaningful if the material response at ultrasonic frequency is identical to that observed in conventional fatigue tests. A novel fatigue testing setup where superelastic Nitinol dog bone specimens are loaded at ultrasonic cycling frequency is presented. Loading conditions resemble in vivo loading (i.e., repeated cyclic loading with... (More)

The near equi-atomic intermetallic Ni Ti alloy Nitinol is used for medical implants, notably in self-expanding stent grafts and heart valve frames, which are subjected to several hundred million load cycles in service. Increasing the testing frequency to the ultrasonic range would drastically shorten the testing times and make the very-high cycle regime experimentally accessible. Such tests are, however, only meaningful if the material response at ultrasonic frequency is identical to that observed in conventional fatigue tests. A novel fatigue testing setup where superelastic Nitinol dog bone specimens are loaded at ultrasonic cycling frequency is presented. Loading conditions resemble in vivo loading (i.e., repeated cyclic loading with relatively small strain amplitudes, specimens in a pre-strained multi-phase state). Strains and phase transformations during ultrasonic frequency cycling are quantitatively measured in an X-ray diffraction (XRD) synchrotron experiment and compared to the material response at low frequency. The XRD experiment confirms that forward and reverse stress-induced phase transformation from austenite to martensite via the intermediate R-phase occurs during low frequency (0.1 Hz, strain rate ε˙ ≈ 10−3 s−1) and ultrasonic frequency (20 kHz, ε˙ ≈ 102 s−1) cycling. Since the same deformation mechanisms are active at low and ultrasonic frequency, these findings imply a general applicability of the ultrasonic fatigue testing technique to Nitinol.

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author
; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Biomedical materials, Shape memory alloy, Ultrasonic cycling, X-ray diffraction
in
Experimental Mechanics
volume
60
issue
3
pages
12 pages
publisher
Springer
external identifiers
  • scopus:85076848906
ISSN
0014-4851
DOI
10.1007/s11340-019-00562-8
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
e71210cf-cc88-4084-82f4-6e14f1bc0380
date added to LUP
2020-01-10 12:17:34
date last changed
2022-04-18 19:49:18
@article{e71210cf-cc88-4084-82f4-6e14f1bc0380,
  abstract     = {{<p>The near equi-atomic intermetallic Ni Ti alloy Nitinol is used for medical implants, notably in self-expanding stent grafts and heart valve frames, which are subjected to several hundred million load cycles in service. Increasing the testing frequency to the ultrasonic range would drastically shorten the testing times and make the very-high cycle regime experimentally accessible. Such tests are, however, only meaningful if the material response at ultrasonic frequency is identical to that observed in conventional fatigue tests. A novel fatigue testing setup where superelastic Nitinol dog bone specimens are loaded at ultrasonic cycling frequency is presented. Loading conditions resemble in vivo loading (i.e., repeated cyclic loading with relatively small strain amplitudes, specimens in a pre-strained multi-phase state). Strains and phase transformations during ultrasonic frequency cycling are quantitatively measured in an X-ray diffraction (XRD) synchrotron experiment and compared to the material response at low frequency. The XRD experiment confirms that forward and reverse stress-induced phase transformation from austenite to martensite via the intermediate R-phase occurs during low frequency (0.1 Hz, strain rate ε˙ ≈ 10<sup>−3</sup> s<sup>−1</sup>) and ultrasonic frequency (20 kHz, ε˙ ≈ 10<sup>2</sup> s<sup>−1</sup>) cycling. Since the same deformation mechanisms are active at low and ultrasonic frequency, these findings imply a general applicability of the ultrasonic fatigue testing technique to Nitinol.</p>}},
  author       = {{Fitzka, M. and Rennhofer, H. and Catoor, D. and Reiterer, M. and Lichtenegger, H. and Checchia, S. and di Michiel, M. and Irrasch, D. and Gruenewald, T. A. and Mayer, H.}},
  issn         = {{0014-4851}},
  keywords     = {{Biomedical materials; Shape memory alloy; Ultrasonic cycling; X-ray diffraction}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{3}},
  pages        = {{317--328}},
  publisher    = {{Springer}},
  series       = {{Experimental Mechanics}},
  title        = {{High Speed In Situ Synchrotron Observation of Cyclic Deformation and Phase Transformation of Superelastic Nitinol at Ultrasonic Frequency}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11340-019-00562-8}},
  doi          = {{10.1007/s11340-019-00562-8}},
  volume       = {{60}},
  year         = {{2020}},
}