Jan Wegner , Lars Bruckhaus , Daniel Leonardo Schwöppe , Hanna Schönrath , Stefan Kleszczynski
{"title":"Additively manufactured self-expandable stents from Zr-based bulk metallic glasses via laser powder bed fusion","authors":"Jan Wegner , Lars Bruckhaus , Daniel Leonardo Schwöppe , Hanna Schönrath , Stefan Kleszczynski","doi":"10.1016/j.addlet.2025.100325","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Self-expandable stents are among the most implanted biomedical devices. We investigate the feasibility of additive manufacturing via laser powder bed fusion to fabricate Zr-based bulk metallic glasses into self-expandable stents to enable automated and customizable stent fabrication while implementing a novel class of materials with superior resilience compared to established alloys such as Nitinol. Three geometries are investigated with different cell dimensions. The additively manufactured stents are analyzed by µCT, SEM imaging and DSC. Overhanging geometry features show increasing crystalline defects in the amorphous matrix. However, with steep elevation angles, an amorphous fraction of up to 97.3 ± 1% is achieved in the struts. Three-point bending tests reveal large resilience of the structures, allowing for full compaction for diamond shaped cells with a height of 7 mm and an elevation angle of 77.5°, without fracture. Our findings offer preliminary evidence supporting the potential of additive manufacturing for Zr-based bulk metallic glass stents, while further studies are necessary to validate and optimize the process.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":72068,"journal":{"name":"Additive manufacturing letters","volume":"15 ","pages":"Article 100325"},"PeriodicalIF":4.7000,"publicationDate":"2025-09-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Additive manufacturing letters","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2772369025000581","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"ENGINEERING, MANUFACTURING","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Self-expandable stents are among the most implanted biomedical devices. We investigate the feasibility of additive manufacturing via laser powder bed fusion to fabricate Zr-based bulk metallic glasses into self-expandable stents to enable automated and customizable stent fabrication while implementing a novel class of materials with superior resilience compared to established alloys such as Nitinol. Three geometries are investigated with different cell dimensions. The additively manufactured stents are analyzed by µCT, SEM imaging and DSC. Overhanging geometry features show increasing crystalline defects in the amorphous matrix. However, with steep elevation angles, an amorphous fraction of up to 97.3 ± 1% is achieved in the struts. Three-point bending tests reveal large resilience of the structures, allowing for full compaction for diamond shaped cells with a height of 7 mm and an elevation angle of 77.5°, without fracture. Our findings offer preliminary evidence supporting the potential of additive manufacturing for Zr-based bulk metallic glass stents, while further studies are necessary to validate and optimize the process.