The emergence of bulk metallic glasses (BMGs) has been tantalizing in biomedical applications such as development of novel cardiovascular stents. Numerous investigations have confirmed the superior functional properties and biocompatibility of BMGs over conventional crystalline alloys as stent materials. However, a detailed understanding of the mechanical behavior of BMG-based stents during different stages of their application is still scarce. Here, by quantitative finite element analyses (FEA), we explore the deployment process of a BMG-based self-expandable stent in a patient specific descending aorta to evaluate the arterial stresses and the vessel deformation during the stent deployment. We further benchmark the performance of the BMG based stent by comparing the deployment results both with the results of a similar nitinol based stent and the experimental failure strength of the human arteries. Our detailed analyses confirm that the proposed BMG stent can be safely deployed in the artery without vessel overstretching and mechanical failure, preventing unexpected vessel injuries and resultant pathological responses. Our findings would be insightful for further investigations toward realization of novel BMG-based stent applications.
Keywords: aorta; bulk metallic glass; crimping; deployment; finite element analysis; nitinol; self-expandable stent.