An original architectured NiTi silicone rubber structure for biomedical applications

• Improvement of adhesion between NiTi and silicone rubber without adhesion promoter
• Elaboration of an architectured tubular structure
• Swelling tests of the composite
• Discussion about the advantages of such a composite

This paper deals with composite structures for biomedical applications. For this purpose, an architectured tubular structure composed of Nickel Titanium (NiTi) Shape Memory Alloy (SMA) and silicone rubber was fabricated. One of the main interests of such structures is to ensure a good adhesion between its two constitutive materials. A previous study of the authors (Rey et al., 2014) has shown that the adhesion between NiTi and silicone rubber can be improved by an adhesion promoter or plasma treatment. However, adhesion promoters are often not biocompatible. Hence, plasma treatment is favored to be used in the present study. Three different gases were tested; air, argon and oxygen. The effects of these treatments on the maximum force required to pull-out a NiTi wire from the silicone rubber matrix were investigated by means of pull-out tests carried out with a self-developed device. Among the three gases, a higher maximum force was obtained for argon gas in the plasma treatment. A tube shaped architectured NiTi/silicone rubber structure was then produced using this treatment. The composite was tested by means of a bulge test. Results open a new way of investigations for architectured NiTi-silicone structures for biomechanical applications.