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Tuesday, October 19, 2004 - 9:00 AM
JOI 4.2

Nd-YAG Laser Micro Welding of Ti-Ni Type Shape Memory Alloy Wire and its Corrosion Resistance

Y. Ogata, M. Takatugu, T. Kunimasa, K. Uenishi, K. F. Kobayashi, Osaka University, Osaka, Japan

In order to investigate the applicability of laser micro welding to the fabrication of medical devices, Ti-Ni shape memory alloy wires with pseudo-elasticity were micro spot melted by using YAG laser. By changing the melting parameters, such as laser power or pulse duration, the evolution in microstructure, tensile strength and pseudo-elasticity was investigated. Melted metal width decreased with decreasing the input energy and pulse duration. The microstructure of melted areas was cellular dendrite structures and that of heat affected areas was grown cell structure with a cell size of about 3`10µm. Tensile strength of spot melted wires was 30% lower than that of base metal, and the fracture occurred in melted areas with a brittle fracture surface. Although melted areas and heat affected areas did not show a pseudo-elasticity due to the larger grain size, minimizing the width of melted metal improved the overall pseudo-elasticity of spot melted samples. In addition, corrosion resistance of the melted and heat affected areas were investigated by the immersion and anodic polarization tests. These corrosion resistance were almost same as that of base metal. In conclusion, the applicability of laser micro welding to the fabrication of medical devices were very effective.

Summary: In order to investigate the applicability of laser micro welding to the fabrication of medical devices, Ti-Ni shape memory alloy wires with pseudo-elasticity were micro spot melted by using YAG laser. By changing the melting parameters, the evolution in microstructure, tensile strength and pseudo-elasticity was investigated. In addition, these corrosion resistances were investigated.