Characterisation of Mechanical Properties of Polymeric Stent using Nanoindentation

Small dimensions of structural elements of stents make the use of traditional testing techniques for their mechanical characterisation cumbersome. Nanoindentation is an alternative approach which overcomes this limitation. In this paper, mechanical properties of a polymeric tube (from which the stent was laser-cut) were characterised by using the nanoindentation technique. Specifically, spherical indentation was carried out to assess the property of the tube, in comparison with the results obtained from pyramidal indentation.