Nanoglass-based balloon expandable stents

Here, a prototypical metallic nanoglass is proposed as a new alloy for balloon expandable stents. Traditionally, the stainless steel SS 316L alloy has been used as a preferred material for this application due to its proper combination of mechanical properties, corrosion resistance, and biocompatibility. Recently, metallic glasses (MGs) have been considered as promising materials for biodevice applications. MGs often display outstanding mechanical properties superior to those of conventional metallic alloys and overcome some of the weaknesses of SS 316L, such as radiopacity, stainless steel allergy, and thrombosis-induced restenosis. However, commonly used monolithic MGs, which have an amorphous homogeneous microstructure, suffer from lack of ductility that is necessary for deployment of balloon expandable stents. In contrast, nanoglasses, that is, amorphous alloys with heterogeneous microstructure, exhibit enhanced ductility which makes them promising materials for balloon expandable stents. We evaluate the feasibility of a prototypical Zr₆₄ Cu₃₆ nanoglass with a grain size of 5 nm for balloon expandable stents by performing finite element method modeling of the stent deployment process in a coronary artery. We consider the BX-Velocity stent design and the nanoglass mechanical properties calculated from atomistic simulations. The results suggest that nanoglasses are suitable materials for balloon expandable stent applications. © 2019 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Biomed Mater Res Part B: Appl Biomater 108B:73-79, 2020.