Mechanical Analyses of Stents with Different Structures under Compressing State

In order to provide scientific guidance of design and development of stents and interventional treatment, the crimping properties and the flexibilities under crimping of the stents with different structures of connecting ribs were studied in this paper. The models of three different structures of connecting ribs were built by commercial software. L-stent, V-stent and S-stent were defined according to different link structures. Finite element analysis was carried out to analyze the crimping properties of three kinds of stents, and the flexibility under crimping was further re- searched. In the course of the crimping, the resilient rates of L-stent, V-stent and S-stent were re- spectively 2.67%, 6.00% and 11.30%, and axial elongations were respectively 1.74%, 1.57% and 2.61%. Under the crimping, the peak stress of L-stent had the minimum distribution compared to the others. Three stents displacements of the center of the end face were respectively 0.135 mm, 0.578 mm and 0.675 mm. In conclusion, L-stent had the best performance of crimping as it's the minimum resilient rate after crimping; V-stent was suitable for transport in the vessels because it's the minimum axial elongation. S-stent had the best flexibility which was easier to reach tor- tuous vessels.