Wrought & Semi-Finished Nitinol Material ASTM Standards – What’s new with updated Specs?

ASTM F2063 has served as the foundational specification for Nitinol materials, defining essential requirements for chemistry, transformation properties, mechanical performance, and material testing. Its adoption has been instrumental in enabling the commercialization of Nitinol across medical applications and beyond. In accordance with ASTM policy requiring periodic review of all active standards, task group WK90888 has been formed to undertake the next revision of F2063.

The refinement of terminology is one of major efforts to align the specification with industry practice and metallurgical conventions. For example, one significant update clarifies the distinction between “hollow” and “tube.” In the F2063-18 edition, tube is defined as a mill product, which is technically inaccurate. In standard metallurgical processing, “hollow” is the proper classification for a mill product, whereas “tube” is a semi-finished product produced through subsequent precision processing. The revised document also introduces the term “coil” to complete a logical definition of Nitinol mill product forms.

While the Nitinol material landscape has expanded over the past decade to include ternary and quaternary alloys, binary NiTi alloys continue to dominate medical device applications. The task group carefully evaluated whether to broaden the scope of F2063 to include these advanced alloys. However, to preserve clarity and usability, the committee has determined that F2063 will remain specific to binary Nitinol. A parallel strategy is being developed to create separate specifications for complex Nitinol variants, ensuring that the standard remains both relevant to current industry needs and scalable for future innovation.