A COMPUTATIONAL STUDY TO INVESTIGATE DEBONDING IN COATED BIORESORBABLE STENTS

A new trend in the treatment of atherosclerosis foresees the exploitation of bioresorbable materials for stents. Magnesium alloys are good candidates since they are completely biocorrodible in human body. To overcome the limitation of very fast degradation, the bioresorbable scaffold can be coated with a polymer having lower degradation rate and taking advantages by coupling metal and polymer properties. However, the coating has a risk of debonding due to the high strain the stent undergoes during the expansion. In this paper two-dimensional (2D) finite element analyses are performed to provide a greater understanding of coating delamination and to show how computational analyses can be usefully employed in the design of coated bioresorbable stents.