Accelerated Fatigue Testing of Stent-Like Diamond Specimens

In this study, we investigated the fatigue behavior of stent-like diamond specimens with particular attention paid to the nature of the test specimen, the constitutive model for the finite element analyses and the displacement condition. A newly designed test rig did enhance the investigation and results with respect to the simulation of the expected in vivo displacement conditions. The excellent performance of the new test method presented within our study provides a good basis for future tests without risk of compromised results due to differing characteristics between test specimens and finished stents, inappropriate displacement conditions or constitutive material model and provides a high reliability and applicability of the results to actual stents.