Numerical And Experimental Analysis Of Fracture Of Athrombogenic Coatings Deposited On Ventricular Assist Device In Micro-Shear Test

The Polish left ventricular assist device (LVAD – RELIGA_EXT) will be made of thermoplastic polycarbonate-urethane (Bionate II) with deposited athrombogenic nano-coatings: gold (Au) and titanium nitride (TiN). Referring to the physical model, the two-scale model of LVAD developed in the previous works in the authors’ finite element code is composed of a macro-model of blood chamber and a micro-model of wall: TiN, Au and Bionate II. The numerical analysis of stress and strain states confirmed the possibility of fracture based on localization of zones of the biggest values of triaxiality factor. The introduction of Au interlayer between TiN and polymer improved the toughness of the connection, and increased the compressive residual stress in the coating what resulted in reduction of stress and strain close to the boundary between substrate and coating.