Date Announced: 19 Aug 2019
Precise and cost-effective fabrication of today’s complex stents requires an ultrashort pulse laser.
Birkerød, Denmark -- When stent material transitioned from stainless steel to high-strength superalloys with challenging fine-feature requirements it became necessary to use ultrashort pulse lasers to avoid thermal nature of machining.
The migration to drug-eluting and later bioresorbable stent technology further boosted the adoption of ultrashort pulse laser technology.
Many of today’s cardiovascular problems are related to the narrowing of blood vessels which reduce blood circulation. Stents are widely used to open narrowed vessels and re-establish normal blood flow.
To make a stent, high-precision lasers are used to remove material from a tube to form a geometrically complex mesh.
High-precision laser cutting – or micromachining – of stents is primarily driven by the need to create very small, precise features at a high yield and reduced cost.
The use of ultra-short pulsed femtosecond lasers for micromachining has been proven to simplify the overall manufacturing process, particularly by eliminating post-processing steps and reducing overall manufacturing cost.
We recently tested our OneFive ORIGAMI XP femtosecond laser for micromachining Nitinol stents with our US collaborator, JEM Lasers. The results were amazing. We realized very precise cuts. None of the cut edges were affected by heat as the “cold ablation” by femtosecond pulses eliminates heat dissipation.
The ORIGAMI XP has been designed for easy and cost-effective integration. It comes in an air-cooled, single-box chassis with removable handles and offers full remote-control capabilities. With a rugged design and low maintenance costs, it is ideal for many industrial applications.
Web Site: www.nktphotonics.com