Laser surface texturing of medical needles for friction control

Surface-blended texturing of medical needles for friction reduction using a picosecond laser

“…From the moment of contact between the textured portion of the needle and of the phantom tissue the friction force continues to increase as a consequence of the transition from the non-textured zone to the textured zone. This is consistent with prior studies done by Han et al [5].…”

“…As the contact area decreases, the friction decreases, as demonstrated by Gerwen et al [13]. Moreover, another influencing factor is the stress concentrations at the edges of the dimples, because soft tissue tends to conform to the profile of the micro-features [5]. As shown in Fig.…”

“…Some of the factors such as tissue deformation and movement and needle bending are directly proportional to the forces experienced by the needle during the insertion procedure. According to Han et al [5], a practical approach to reduce needle placement errors is to reduce the insertion force.…”

“…In our previous studies, Wang et al [11] studied the effect of process parameters in LST of medical needles with the aim to achieve the desired geometry of micro-features with high surface quality. Moreover, Han et al [5] investigated the effect of textured needles on the friction force by creating micro-channels with various widths, area densities and channel direction. However, it was found that such texture patterns increased the friction during needle insertion because of the stress concentrations at the edges of the channels.…”

Fabrication and tribological behaviors of corner-cube-like dimple arrays produced by laser surface texturing on medical needles

“…A few literatures dealt with the tribological characteristics between a textured hard surface and soft materials such as soft tissue and elastomer. Han et al [20] fabricated an array of micro-channels with various channel widths, area densities and channel orientations on needles to study the effect of textured needles on the friction. It was found that such texture patterns increased the friction during needle insertion due to the stress concentrations at the edges of the channels.…”