B23-P-14 Composition and microstructure study by using additive manufacturing process for implant application

Nitinol alloy is a well-known materials due to the unique shape memory property and thus extensive used as medical device. However, nitinol alloy is also hard to cast, forge, and machine, and thus the device design is limited. Additive manufacturing process is a potential method to direct fabricate the nitinol medical device. Composition and microstructure are the key points to affect the shape memory property of additive manufactured nitinol alloys. In this research, the composition and microstructure evolution of nitinol alloy from powder to additive manufactured specimen has been investigated. The material nature and microstructure are examined by X-ray diffraction (XRD), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). In addition, chemical composition of these specimens are examined by electro-probe microanalyzer (EPMA). All of the results will be discussed in details. B23-P-13 doi:10.1093/jmicro/dfv287