Titanium alloy contact ring element having low modulus and large elastic elongation

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9694173-B2
Application number	US-201514640469-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 6, 2015
Priority date	Mar 7, 2014
Publication date	Jul 4, 2017
Grant date	Jul 4, 2017

Abstract

A method of forming a medical device contact element includes annealing an elongated rod of Ti-15Mo alloy material to form an annealed rod having a Young's Modulus of less than 13.5 Mpsi and an elastic range or strain of at least 0.7%. Then forming a contact ring element from the annealed rod and assembling the contact ring element into a medical device. Contact rings and lead receptacles including the same are also described.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method of forming a medical device contact element comprising:
annealing a solid, elongated rod of Ti-15Mo alloy material to form a solid, annealed rod having an outer diameter between 2 mm and 10 mm, a Young's Modulus of less than 13.5 Mpsi, and an elastic range or strain of at least 0.7%;
forming a contact ring element from the solid, annealed rod, the contact ring element comprising a tubular body defining a cavity configured to receive a lead, the contact ring element further comprising a plurality of resiliently deflectable elements extending from the tubular body in to the cavity; and
assembling the contact ring element into a medical device.

2. The method according to claim 1 wherein the contact ring element is monolithic.

3. The method according to claim 1 wherein the annealed rod has 3% or less alpha-phase titanium.

4. The method according to claim 1 wherein the annealed rod has a Young's Modulus of less than 12 Mpsi and an elastic range or strain of at least 0.9%.

5. The method according to claim 1 wherein the annealing step comprises annealing at a temperature in a range from 725 to 775 degrees centigrade for 5 to 30 minutes and then water quenching.

6. The method according to claim 1 wherein the assembling step comprises axially aligning a plurality of contact ring elements to form a lead receptacle for receiving a lead body, wherein the lead body elastically deflects the plurality of resiliently deflectable elements.

7. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising dividing the annealed rod into a plurality of subunits and removing a portion of at least selected subunits to form the contact ring element cavity defined by the tubular body.

8. The method according to claim 7 wherein the removing step forms the plurality of resiliently deflectable elements extending from the tubular body in to the cavity.

9. The method according to claim 7 wherein the removing step comprises electrical discharge machining.

10. The method according to claim 1 wherein the annealing step comprises annealing at a temperature in a range from 740 to 750 degrees centigrade for 10 to 20 minutes and then water quenching.

11. The method according to claim 1 wherein the annealing step comprises annealing at a temperature in a range from 740 to 750 degrees centigrade for 15 minutes and then water quenching.

12. The method according to claim 1 wherein the contact ring element has a thickness of 2.5 mm or less.

13. The method according to claim 1 wherein the contact ring element has an outer diameter between 1.2 mm and 5 mm.

14. The method according to claim 1 wherein each of the plurality of resiliently deflectable elements has a thickness between 0.025 mm and 0.25 mm.

15. The method according to claim 1 wherein the thickness of the contact ring element varies along a length of one or more of the plurality of resiliently deflectable elements.

16. The method according to claim 1 wherein the annealed rod has a mean average grain size value of less than 30 micrometers.

Assignees

• Medtronic Inc

Inventors

• Li Bernard Q
• Shi Alan
• Sorensen Daniel D
• Janzig Darren A
• Bush Margaret

Classifications

• C22F1/183 Primary

  of titanium or alloys based thereon · CPC title

• B23H9/00

  Machining specially adapted for treating particular metal objects or for obtaining special effects or results on metal objects (heat treatment by cathodic discharge C21D1/38) · CPC title

• A61N1/3752

  Details of casing-lead connections · CPC title

• C22C14/00

  Alloys based on titanium · CPC title

• A61N1/05 Primary

  for implantation or insertion into the body, e.g. heart electrode (A61N1/06 takes precedence) · CPC title