Fort Wayne Metals, Fort Wayne, Indiana, has recently developed a Nitinol-specific processing technique yielding unique mechanical characteristics for Nitinol wire. Dynamic plateau strength (DPS) wire may benefit products requiring a higher effective material stiffness, such as vascular stents. It would also benefit applications that require service loads of at least 1% strain while maintaining one-to-one proximal-to-distal torque control, such as guidewires.
The enhanced rigidity results from alteration of the phase transformation, or plateau region, of the stress-strain curve. Shown are the stress-strain curves of DPS and superelastic Nitinol wires. The transformation behavior, and thus plateau levels, can be customized by Fort Wayne Metals for specific applications.
To find out more about DPS® wire, please contact the your Customer Service Associate for your region.
