66 Int. J. Nanotechnol., Vol. 14, Nos. 1/2/3/4/5/6, 2017 Copyright © 2017 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd. Finite element analysis of thermally actuated medical stent and staple implants using shape memory alloy Mahyar Dahmardeh* and Seyed Kamaledin Setarehdan School of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE), The University of Tehran, North Kargar St., Tehran, Iran Fax: +98 (21) 88013199 Email: mdahmardeh@ut.ac.ir Email: ksetareh@ut.ac.ir *Corresponding author Abstract: In this paper, a thermally actuated medical stent and staple using shape memory alloy (SMA) are designed, numerically analysed, and compared to similarly designed stents and staples made of 316L stainless steel and Co-Cr alloy. The numerical analysis was carried out using finite element method. A consistent 3D model is used to investigate the effect of materials on the performance of the stent and staple. This study takes into account the interaction between the stent/staple and the in vivo environment, by modelling the in vivo environment forces. The results are in good agreement with those reported in the literature. According to the results, it can be concluded that when these three commercially available materials undergo an external force, SMA yields much better results in terms of maximum displacement under the same amount of stress. Especially when undergoing large loads, the SMA produces considerably more displacement than 316L stainless steel and Co-Cr, which suggests that using SMA is a promising path to make biomedical stents and staples. Keywords: shape memory alloy; SMA; smart material; MEMS; microelectromechanical systems; stent; surgical staple; COMSOL. Reference to this paper should be made as follows: Dahmardeh, M. and Setarehdan, S.K. (2017) ‘Finite element analysis of thermally actuated medical stent and staple implants using shape memory alloy’, Int. J. Nanotechnol., Vol. 14, Nos. 1/2/3/4/5/6, pp.66–74. Biographical notes: Mahyar Dahmardeh is now a senior BSc student in Electrical and Electronics Engineering at the ECE Department of the University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran. In fall 2013, he joined the Bio-electronic devices and Thin Film Laboratory (TFL) at the ECE Department of the University of Tehran. His current research interests centres on Bio MEMES, bio nanoscience, and microfabrication. In the spring 2014, he joined the Device and Process Modelling and Simulation Lab, where he worked on the numerical analysis of various electrical and mechanical devices such as MEMS optical switches integrated with shape memory alloy, surface acoustic wave (SAW) filters, and medical stents and staples. The numerical analyses conducted in these projects were mainly carried out using COMSOL Multiphysics® Modeling Software. He is currently working on fabrication and numerical analysis of microfluidic channels to be employed for the separation of circulating cancer cells (CTC) from blood samples using dielectrophoresis (DEP) effect.