| Summary: | Stents are widely used in the treatment of vascular disease and they represent one of the most valuable medical device markets. It has been observed that the mechanical characteristics of a stent influences clinical outcomes.
This thesis is concerned with the design of expansion mechanisms of balloon expandable stents based on the principles of lattice mechanics. Balloon expandable vascular stents are mesh-like, tubular structures used mainly to prop open narrowed arteries, and also to provide sealing and anchorage in a stent-graft for treatment of aneurysms or dissections. Presence of a spatially repeating geometric pattern of a `unit' or a cell is a striking feature of stents. Lattice mechanics deals with such spatially periodic materials and structures.
The focus is on the plastic expansion phase of a stent from the initial crimped configuration. The elastic post-expansion phase is also considered. Eight unit cell-based stent designs are selected for this work. Their expansion characteristics are analyzed and measured. Analytical methods based on kinematics of stent expansion mechanisms are presented first which are then validated with more detailed Finite Element (FE) calculations. Analytical methods developed in this work aid rapid design calculations in selecting appropriate unit cell geometries. Three of the designs are manufactured through laser micromachining and tested for their expansion characteristics.
The analytical methods were validated as they predicted similar expansion characteristics as finite element and experiment. Additionally, the study confirmed that stent designs with positive, negative, or zero axial strain over expansion is possible. Finally, the study suggest that unit cell design can be tailored to obtain desired length-diameter and pressure-diameter characteristics over the expansion phase of stenting. === Applied Science, Faculty of === Graduate
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