[A long term accelerating corrosion fatigue texting of coronary stents in vitro]

According to the related standards, an in vitro corrosion fatigue testing of coronary stents was designed. The stents were fixed in the latex tubes, which were full of 0.9% saline solution, and radial stress was produced for simulating natural vessel. The accelerated fatigue test was performed with 4 x 10(8) cycles at a frequency of 60 Hz, which was equal to 10 years in vivo implantation. Twelve coronary stents made from stainless steel were adopted in the experiment. The bulk structure and surface morphology before and after testing were analysed by scanning electron microscopy. The structure damage and surface change caused by corrosion fatigue were identified and the probable reasons were proposed.