title: Fatigue behavior of a pyrolytic carbon.
abstract: The test method introduced here enables the fatigue test of a brittle material at a stress level that is as high as its ultimate fracture strength. The procedural design of the test eliminates uncertainties that often make interpretation of the results difficult. The results, using a statistical analysis, demonstrate that isotropic pyrolytic carbons are fatigue-free in physiologically relevant stress regimes encountered in contemporary bi-leaflet artificial heart-valve designs. Verification tests show that the material can withstand cyclic stress of 10(9) cycles at a strain level that equals that of the mean static strength.
authors.affiliation: Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of California, 6532 Boelter Hall, Los Angeles, California 90095-1595, USA.
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Sines
mesh_terms: D000465:Algorithms; D001672:Biocompatible Materials; D002244:Carbon; D008422:Materials Testing; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012828:Silicones / Q000737:chemistry; D013314:Stress, Mechanical
chemical_list: D001672:Biocompatible Materials; D012828:Silicones; C009139:pyrolytic carbon; D002244:Carbon