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Medical Engineering and Physics 000 (2015) 1–9

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Medical Engineering and Physics

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/medengphy

Design optimization study of a shape memory alloy active needle for

biomedical applications
Bardia Konh, Mohammad Honarvar, Parsaoran Hutapea∗
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA 19122, USA

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Majority of cancer interventions today are performed percutaneously using needle-based procedures, i.e.
Received 31 October 2014 through the skin and soft tissue. The difficulty in most of these procedures is to attain a precise navigation
Revised 5 February 2015
through tissue reaching target locations. To overcome this challenge, active needles have been proposed
Accepted 28 February 2015
recently where actuation forces from shape memory alloys (SMAs) are utilized to assist the maneuverability
Available online xxx
and accuracy of surgical needles. In the first part of this study, actuation capability of SMA wires was studied.
Keywords: The complex response of SMAs was investigated via a MATLAB implementation of the Brinson model and
Active surgical needle verified via experimental tests. The isothermal stress–strain curves of SMAs were simulated and defined as a
Shape memory material model in finite element analysis (FEA). The FEA was validated experimentally with developed proto-
Actuator types. In the second part of this study, the active needle design was optimized using genetic algorithm aiming
Design optimization its maximum flexibility. Design parameters influencing the steerability include the needle’s diameter, wire
diameter, pre-strain and its offset from the needle. A simplified model was presented to decrease the com-
putation time in iterative analyses. Integration of the SMA characteristics with the automated optimization
schemes described in this study led to an improved design of the active needle.
© 2015 IPEM. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction The success of many needle-based interventions such as

brachytherapy, thermal ablation and biopsy highly depends on the
To date, many biomedical devices have utilized the pseudoelastic accuracy of the needle placements at target locations. For improve-
properties of advanced, active and adaptive materials such as coro- ment of the accuracy of needle placement, many groups have tried
nary stents, eyeglasses and orthodontic wires [1]. The actuation prop- variety of options to activate the needle. For example, Tang et al. [8]
erties of the active materials have also attracted a lot of attention, used magnetic forces in order to help the navigation of the needle
especially in medical devices such as active cardiac catheters [2], ar- inside the body. Ayvali et al. [9] utilized pre-curved SMA wires on the
tificial muscles [3] and cochlea implants [4]. Shape memory alloys needle body to provide external actuations. The electrical resistance
(SMAs), well known smart materials, have become increasingly pop- and the fatigue behavior of SMA wires used as actuators have been
ular in various applications due to their ability to remember their studied by Meier et al. [10]. They developed a control loop based on
initial shape. Their unique thermomechanical characteristics of pseu- the electrical resistance feedback.
doelasticity, shape memory effect and biocompatibility have made Material characteristics of SMAs (the actuators) are complicated
them a suitable option to revolutionize many diagnostic and ther- due to the history dependent hysteresis relationships between the
apeutic biomedical tools [5]. The primary concept of active surgical materials’ stress, strain and temperature. A large recoverable strain
needle (Fig. 1) was suggested by Konh et al. [6] where the feasibility of SMAs is due to the transformation between two major internal
of using SMA wires to actuate the surgical needles was shown. The phases known as martensite and austenite. The transformation tem-
SMA wires, i.e., Nitinol wires in our design, supply bending forces to peratures are known as Ms , Mf , As , Af , where M represent martensite,
the needle body to guide the needle through desired trajectories in- A austenite, while subscripts s and f shows the starting and finishing
side the tissue. The active needle [7] provides several advantages such point of the transformation process, respectively. Several researchers
as improvements in accuracy to reach the target locations, avoiding [11–13] have developed mathematical models to predict the SMA’s
critical organs during insertion and minimizing trauma to patients. response. Brinson [14] developed a model that includes the transfor-
mation between twinned and detwinned martensite. This model was
∗ able to predict the SMAs’ pseudoelasticity and shape memory effects,
Corresponding author at: 1947 N. 12th Street, Philadelphia, PA 19122, USA.
Tel.: +1 215 204 7805; fax: +1 215 204 4956. simultaneously. Also privileging from non-constant coefficients this
E-mail address: hutapea@temple.edu (P. Hutapea). model provided an enhanced accuracy with respect to the previously

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.medengphy.2015.02.013
1350-4533/© 2015 IPEM. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Please cite this article as: B. Konh et al., Design optimization study of a shape memory alloy active needle for biomedical applications, Medical
Engineering and Physics (2015), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.medengphy.2015.02.013
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2 B. Konh et al. / Medical Engineering and Physics 000 (2015) 1–9

for optimization studies followed by evaluation of its accuracy. In

Section 6, the optimization methods are described along with the
proposition of the best possible design of the active needle. Finally,
the conclusions are briefly summarized in Section 7.

2. Analysis tools to optimize the active needle

The methodology used for the first part of this study is shown in
Fig. 2. The thermomechanical behavior of SMAs needs to be included
Fig. 1. Schematic of the proposed active needle design.
in the analysis since they are the most important components of the
structure. Three experimental setups developed to study the complex
behavior of SMAs are discussed in detail in Section 3. Numerical and
developed models [11,12]. Brinson model was used in this study for experimental studies on SMA wires prior to the finite element anal-
its accuracy and consistency with our SMA wires. ysis ensured a coherent material model to be used in the FE model.
In this study, optimized design of the active needle has also been The isothermal stress–strain curves obtained from a MATLAB imple-
presented. The past design and developments of systems consisting mentation of Brinson model and provided as the material model for
SMAs had been based on graphical design trial and error [15]. Auto- the FE analysis. The detail of this constitutive model is explained in
mated tools of the commercial software (ANSYS) were used here to the next section.
develop a predictive algorithm to assess the active needle response. The process of design optimization is shown schematically in Fig. 3.
The novelty of our design optimization study lies on the incorpora- Our design objective targets the highest deflection of the active needle
tion of smart materials in our system. Prior to constructing an opti- while considering the restrictions such as maximum stress, strain and
mization algorithm, implementation of a constitutive model capable elastic deformation of different components. Using this approach dif-
of predicting the inelastic strain response of SMAs is necessary. The ferent design configurations were evaluated seeking the best design.
inelastic response of SMA wires with different diameters was first The iterative structural analysis was performed over the defined do-
studied via both experimental and numerical approaches. Since the main of design parameters to reach the design objectives. The ANSYS
material properties of SMA wires could be different due to different design optimization module was used for this objective that is capa-
manufacturing processes, details of the constitutive model have been ble of being linked to the ANSYS parametric design language (APDL)
described in this work so that it can be used in assessments of any module of the software where the FE model was generated and run
other systems with active components. the analysis automatically. The optimization process consists of an
In previous optimization studies with SMAs [16–19], the desired APDL input file with all design parameters and the required output
dynamic properties were found by optimizing the placement of a parameters defined which was iteratively solved through the whole
single wire component to eliminate the high stress regions. The ac- domain.
tive material optimization was done by Main et al., and Seeley and
Chattopadhyay [20,21] using analytical and gradient based studies. 3. Constitutive model: formulation and numerical integration
In other work, design optimization of a system with a SMA spring
was investigated by Dumont and Kühl [22] using genetic algorithm. 3.1. Description of the material model
To overcome some limitations of previous studies, such as expensive
computational time and incorporation of SMAs’ constitutive models, SMAs show two different behaviors known as (i) shape memory
we present an automated optimization approach based on a simpli- and (ii) pseudoelastic effects. The shape memory is its ability to re-
fied model that benefits from extensive experimental and numerical cover a large residual strain by rising up the temperature whereas
studies on SMA actuators. pseudoelasticity is its ability to resume a high amount of strain upon
This work is organized as follows: Section 2 introduces the overall unloading in a hysteresis loop. Two major phases exist in these alloys
analysis tools and methodologies utilized for modeling and optimiza- which are known as austenite and martensite. Austenite is known as
tion. Section 3 describes the constitutive model of SMAs in detail in- the parent phase, which only exists at high temperatures. Only de-
cluding the numerical and experimental studies. Section 4 describes creasing the temperature will result in a phase change into marten-
the FE model and the prototype developed for verification purposes. site. The martensite phase exists in two different orientations which
Section 5 validates the 3D FE analysis of the active needle via the are known as twined and detwined, with respect to its multiple vari-
experimental tests and suggests a simplified model as an alternative ants and twins. The phase transformation between martensite and

Fig. 2. Engineering tools used to show the actuation capability of SMA wires in the active needle design.

Please cite this article as: B. Konh et al., Design optimization study of a shape memory alloy active needle for biomedical applications, Medical
Engineering and Physics (2015), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.medengphy.2015.02.013
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B. Konh et al. / Medical Engineering and Physics 000 (2015) 1–9 3

Fig. 4. Typical phase transformation diagram of SMA wires.

The material function, θ (ε , ξ , T), is assumed to be constant due

to its relatively small value, while the transformation function was
described as a function of martensite fraction (Eq. (3.6)) where ε L is
the maximum residual strain of the wire.
   
 ξ = −εL D ξ (3.6)

Eq. (3.4) and the transformation cosine function were used to find
the behavior of our SMA wires in this study. All the input parameters
for Brinson model were collected from experimental tests to form the
stress–temperature diagram (Fig. 4), describing the regions in which
Fig. 3. Analysis algorithm for design optimization, seeking the maximum steerability the transformation happens. Having the phase transformation dia-
of the active needle. gram formed, we were able to define an external function in MATLAB
for the phase transformation kinetics. The material properties for each
austenite generally empower the SMA to recover a large amount of diameter of the SMA wires were provided to the code from experi-
strain which is used for activating the needle device. The constitutive ments. Then a marching approach was followed based on Eq. (3.4) to
Brinson model is used to model the active needle and is described fill the stress, strain and temperature matrices while the martensite
in this section. Prior to Brinson, Liang and Rogers [12] suggested the fraction at each step was predicted by the external function. For our
stress (σ ) to be related to three material functions: the modulus of FE model the constant stress, constant strain and isothermal stress–
SMA, D(ε , ξ , T), the transformation tensor, (ε , ξ , T) and the ther- strain responses were desired. Therefore, while iterating on Eq. (3.4)
mal coefficient of expansion, θ (ε , ξ , T) as shown in Eq. (3.1). In this our convergence criteria was to have one of these parameters to re-
equation ε , ξ and T are the green strain, the martensite fraction and main constant at all steps. The isothermal stress–strain curves then
temperature respectively. were used as material properties of SMAs for the finite element model
      as illustrated in Fig. 2.
dσ = D ε , ξ , T d ε +  ε , ξ , T dξ + θ ε , ξ , T d θ (3.1) Understanding the resistance heating of the SMA wires is impor-
Eq. (3.2) shows the relationship between temperature and trans- tant because they are being used as actuators in our system. An iter-
formation stress for a SMA material, where ε is the transformation ative approach to estimate the variation of temperature in the SMA
strain and H is the enthalpy change between martensite and austen- wires considering the major heat mechanisms such as environmental
ite phases at T0 . Both phases should be in equilibrium under the convection, resistance heating and latent heat difference due to the
stress σ . phase transformation can be found in [23]. The energy generated in
dσ H the wire is contributed by Joule heating and latent energy of trans-
=− (3.2)
dT T0 ε formation. Our experimental results at room temperature on a single
SMA wire showed that 10–15 s was required to cool down from 70 °C
In Brinson model [14] the martensite fraction was divided into two
to room temperature (22 °C) for different wire diameters.
crystallographic shapes known as stress induced (ξ s ) and temperature
induced (ξ T ) as shown below.
ξ = ξs + ξT (3.3) 3.2. Constant-stress test
Finally assuming non-constant material functions, Eq. (3.4) was
modified by Brinson to suggest the SMA’s constitutive material as The configuration set up for the constant-stress experiment is
follows. shown in Fig. 5(a). The SMA wire was hung vertically under uniaxial
          tensile loading. The movement of the weight hanger was tracked by
σ − σ0 = D ξ ε − D ξ0 +  ξ ξs −  ξ0 ξs0 + θ T − T0 a linear variable differential transducer (LVDT) (HSD 750-500, Macro
(3.4) Sensor, Pennsauken, NJ) with a nominal range of ±12 mm. The SMA
wire was activated thermally by Joule heating using a programmable
Young’s modulus, D, highly depends on the martensite fraction of DC power supply (BK Precision 1696, Yorba Linda, CA). A 0.003 in
the material (Eq. (3.5)) where Dm and Da represents the modulus of k-thermocouple (Omega Engineering, Stamford, CT) was attached to
SMA with 100% martensite and 100% austenite, respectively. Their the SMA wire. The output signals of both the thermocouple and the
mathematical definitions mean that they are functions of martensite LVDT were collected using SCXI-1321 terminal block (National In-
volume fraction. strument, Austin, TX). To ensure complete austenitic transformation,
     
D ε , ξ , T = D ξ = Da + ξ Dm − Da (3.5) the wires were heated up to 80 °C.

Please cite this article as: B. Konh et al., Design optimization study of a shape memory alloy active needle for biomedical applications, Medical
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Fig. 7. Experimental setup for measuring the deflection of the active needle prototype.

material for the cannula for its flexibility. The cannula’s inner and
outer diameter was 0.88 mm and 1.59 mm, respectively. A total num-
ber of 32,442 nodes and 23,805 elements were used for the whole
Fig. 5. Experimental setup for (a) constant stress and (b) constant strain tests.
active needle structure. Mesh has been refined in the areas of contact
between the needle, holder and the SMA wire. In this model the ele-
ments’ birth and death was interested to form three load steps similar
to the real experiment (explained below). Considering that this op-
tion was not supported by LINK180 elements, SOLID65 elements were
chosen for both needle and the actuator.
The maximum contraction of the SMA wire depends on its initial
pre-strain prior to actuation. Birth and death capability of ANSYS was
used before increasing the wire temperature to set a certain pre-strain
on SMA elements. The solver consists of three steps: First, a tensile
pressure load was applied to the holder while all cannula elements
were killed (removed from the structure) that resulted in tensile stress
in the needle. Then the cannula was inserted to the structure (making
the elements alive) and the tensile load was removed. These changes
along with the internal energy stored in the wire from previous step
resulted in an equilibrium position with tensile stress in SMA wire
and a small compressive stress in the needle. Lastly, the wire tem-
perature was increased from room temperature to 80 °C (above As )
Fig. 6. Geometry and mesh of the active needle created in ANSYS. that caused the SMA wire to contract and consequently bends the
needle. Although, only the loading part is presented in this study, the
model is able to predict the unloading stage of the wires as well. In
3.3. Constant-strain test order to model the unloading, another step should be included in the
solver which is similar to the first step where the SMA feels the can-
When thermally activated, the actuator contracts due to its higher nula’s tendency to go back to its initial shape. Following this method,
temperature and shorter length. The experimental constant-strain a loop can be formed in the FE model to show the SMA’s repetitive
setup is illustrated in Fig. 5(b). The SMA wire was activated using loading-unloading behavior. Also, in order to assess the 1D Brinson
Joule heating by applying current as a ramp function. Force response model with our 3D model, a preliminary model of a simple cube with
of the SMA wire was measured using a 22.7 N load cell (Futek Advance only four elements was developed. The expected strain response (5%)
Sensor Tech, Irvine, CA). The load cell signal was collected using SCXI- was observed after the three steps of solutions, thereby showed that
1314 DAQ system. Similar to the constant-stress experiment, wire Brinson model is suitable for our FE model.
temperature was measured using the k-thermocouple. A linear stage
(Edmund Optics, Barrington, NJ) was used to set a specific pre-strain 4.2. Prototype experimentation
on wires.
The structure shown in Fig. 7 was developed to validate the finite
4. Structural behavior of the active needle element analysis. The structure consisted of an aluminum hollow
cannula (Din = 0.88 mm, Dout = 1.59 mm) actuated by FLEXINOL SMA
4.1. Finite element model wires, nickel-titanium alloy (Dynalloy Inc., Tustin, CA) which were
attached by an 18 mm diameter stainless steel holder. Two other can-
A 3D finite element model of the active needle (Fig. 6) was de- nulas with inner/outer diameter of 1.67/2.38 mm and 2.46/3.18 mm
veloped in ANSYS to predict the needle deflection while actuated by were also developed. The size of the needles used in conventional
the attached SMA wire. The cannula (representing needle) and the surgeries (for example for brachytherapy) are in the range of 18 gauge
wire were chosen to be 100 mm long, attached to an 18 mm diameter (OD = 1.27 mm) which is comparable to the cannula’s diameter pre-
and 0.83 mm thick stainless steel disc. Aluminum was chosen as the sented in this work. It should be noted that in minimally invasive

Please cite this article as: B. Konh et al., Design optimization study of a shape memory alloy active needle for biomedical applications, Medical
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Table 1
Material properties of the SMA wire obtained from experiments and the structural design parameters and
their variation range.

Parameters Description Values Unit

SMA wire σs Critical start transformation stress 130 MPa

σf Critical finish transformation stress 170 MPa
EM Martensite Young’s modulus 32.5 GPa
EA Austenite Young’s modulus 90 GPa
εmax Maximum residual strain 0.05 1
Mf Martensite finish transformation 25.0 °C
Ms Martensite start transformation 31.0 °C
As Austenite start transformation 34.2 °C
Af Austenite finish transformation 38.4 °C
CM Clausius–Clapeyron coefficient 12.0 MPa/°C
CA Clausius–Clapeyron coefficient 16.6 MPa/°C

Structure Ecannula Cannula’s Young’s modulus 70-200 GPa

Din /Dout Cannula’s inner/outer diameter 0.88/1.59 to 2.46/3.18 mm
DSMA SMA diameter 0.20, 0.23, 0.29 mm
σp SMA pre-strain 0.01–0.05 1
A Offset between SMA and cannula 3.0–7.0 mm

surgeries a minimized tissue puncture diameter is always desirable. 5. Verification of the thermomechanical response with
SMA wires with diameters ranging from 0.20 mm to 0.29 mm were experiment
used as actuators. The SMA wires were stabilized prior to the instal-
lation in the prototype in order to maintain a consistent actuation 5.1. Evaluation of thermomechanical behavior of SMA wires via
performance. The constant stress setup (shown in Fig. 5(a)) was used numerical and experimental approaches
for this purpose. While stress was kept constant at 300 MPa, a cyclic
temperature was applied until the response is stabilized. The dis- In Fig. 8(a), the stress–temperature response of 0.48 mm SMA
cussion on the differences between the initial and following loading wire simulated using the Brinson model and that determined
cycles can be found in our previous work [24]. The offset between from the constant-strain experiment was compared. The hysteresis
the SMA wire and the neutral axis of cannula was 7.0 mm. The offset behavior of the SMA wire in stress–temperature response is because
was maintained using a drilled hole on the holder. Prior to actuation, of the internal phase transformation which begins at different
a fixed amount of pre-strain was set on all actuators. The distance temperatures (As and Ms ) in the heating and cooling parts. The
between the collets was set in a way to maintain εmax t = 5% on each same trend was observed with the stress–strain curves which
SMA wire diameters. The Joule heating method was used to actuate is explained below. The mismatches could be explained by the
the SMA wire. The amount of deflection was quantified by taking errors encountered in measuring the transformation temperatures
pictures of the deflection with the background of a graph sheet. The and Clausius–Clapeyron slopes, primarily resulted from difficulty
pictures were captured using a high speed camera (Fastec inline cam- with the current experimental setup, especially due to crimp and
era, Fastec Imaging, San Diego, CA) and are then processed using the thermocouple attachments. A thermal paste was used in this study
ImageJ software 1.45 s (National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD). to have the best possible connection between the wire and the ther-
The FE model was validated using three prototypes of different size mocouple. However, another way which would potentially enhance
(models of Table 1). A wide range of Young’s moduli were selected the temperature measurement is to use laser welding (short pulse)
for the cannula. The conventional needles are made of steel, carbon- in the joint area. In order to verify the material model’s accuracy with
fiber, titanium and Nitinol which their stiffness is in the selected ANSYS, a FE model of the wire was developed in ANSYS. SOLID65
range of this study. Table 1 also lists the material properties of SMA was chosen as the element type. A 100 mm long wire was subjected
wire of 0.20 mm diameter. The values were obtained experimentally to constant pressure at one end while fixed at the other end. The
for a stress free SMA wire. Using these values the internal phase transformation to austenite happened when the wire’s temperature
transformation can be predicted by the model. was increased from room temperature (22 °C) to 80 °C at 140 MPa.

Fig. 8. Comparison of (a) stress–temperature and (b) strain–temperature response of SMA wires obtained using Brinson model and experiment.

Please cite this article as: B. Konh et al., Design optimization study of a shape memory alloy active needle for biomedical applications, Medical
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Fig. 10. Deflection of the needle using birth and death method in ANSYS.

Fig. 9. Isothermal stress–strain curves for the SMA wire diameter of 0.20 mm; the
experimental tensile test results have been shown.

The model was compared with experimental results (Fig. 8(b)). The
final strain in the wire was predicted exactly the same using both
methods. The difference in the slope of the transformation region
could be explained by different response time of wires during the ex-
periment. The small size of the wire and the thermocouple and their
poor connection could also cause inaccuracies in the temperature
measurement, thereby some deviation to the numerical prediction.
The isothermal response of the 0.20 mm diameter SMA wire at
different temperatures is presented in Fig. 9. During the initial steps
of loading, the material shows a linear response upon applied stress.
However, after reaching a critical amount of stress, the material goes
through a phase transformation where a large strain and low stiff-
ness is observed. This sort of stress response is comparable to the
plastic deformation. Once transformation is complete, the material
gets stiffer and once again the linear response is observable (complete
austenite phase). At low temperatures (T < As ), applying stress causes
the transformation from twinned to detwinned martensite. The de-
twinning process makes the multiple martensite variants convert to
a single variant, by the alignment of the habit planes with the axis
of loading and consequently a large amount of residual strain. This
large amount of strain at higher temperatures (T > As ) is caused by
the transformation from austenite to martensite. For lower temper-
atures, the incomplete transformation leaves a large residual strain
in the material upon unloading. This residual strain can be recovered
by heating the material above Af . For temperatures lower than Af ,
there would be a partial recovery due to the presence of both phases.
For the temperatures above Af (pseudoelasticity effect), the material
will recover completely. Also included in Fig. 9 is the experimental
stress–strain curve of 0.20 mm SMA wire. An Instron Mini-55 (Arti-
san Technology Group, Champaign, IL) tensile machine was used to
obtain the tensile curve at room temperature (22 °C). A displacement
control of 4 μm/s was applied and the stress response was captured
Fig. 11. Maximum deflection achieved with a 0.20 mm SMA wire for three differ-
via a 10 N load cell. The mismatches can be explained by differences ent prototypes of Din /Dout as (a) 0.88 mm/1.59 mm, (b) 1.67 mm/2.38 mm and (c)
in values assigned to the martensite Young’s modulus. 2.46 mm/3.18 mm.

5.2. Verification of FE model with the prototype captured. Table 2 compares the deflection of different cannulas
actuated by different SMA wires with the FE model predictions. The
The needle deflection obtained by the FE model is shown in Fig. 10. difference of less than 10% validated our FE model.
Three prototypes with the configurations described in Section 4.2
were used to validate the FE model. The maximum deflection was en- 5.3. Thermal expansion method as a simplified FE model
sured by setting the highest pre-strain condition (equal to the maxi-
mum transformation stain of 5%) and by applying enough current. For A simplified approach was used to develop a FE model of the SMA
the smallest (Din = 0.88 mm, Dout = 1.59 mm) and the medium size actuated needle. In this approach the strain response of the SMA wire
(Din = 1.67 mm, Dout = 2.38 mm) cannula the maximum deflection of was approximated while thermally actuated above As . To have a good
27 and 18 mm, respectively, was observed (Fig. 11(a) and (b)). Also as approximation the constant-stress experiment described above was
can be seen in Fig. 11(c) for the biggest size of cannula (Din = 2.46 mm, repeated for different stress levels to find the contraction range of
Dout = 3.18 mm) the maximum vertical deflection of 14 mm was the wire (Fig. 12). This strain response of the wire was estimated

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Table 2
The maximum deflection of active needle measured from prototypes and predicted by FE model.

Prototype Din = 0.88 mm, Dout = 1.59 mm Din = 1.67 mm, Dout = 2.38 mm Din = 2.46 mm, Dout = 3.18 mm

FE model using nonlinear stress–strain curves

SMA Test FEM %error Test FEM %error Test FEM %error
0.20 mm 27 28.27 4.70 18 16.32 −9.33 14 12.71 −9.21
0.23 mm 28 30.77 9.89 19 17.39 −8.47 15 13.22 −11.86
0.29 mm 30 34.92 16.40 21 21.08 0.38 17 15.56 −8.47

Simplified FE model explained in Section 5.3

SMA Test Simplified FEM Nonlinear FEM %error with test %deviation of two FEMs
0.20 mm 27 28.56 28.27 5.78 1.02
0.23 mm 28 31.43 30.77 12.25 2.14
0.29 mm 30 33.88 34.92 12.93 2.98

Table 3
Parameters used for optimization study.

Input parameter Initial design point Lower bound Upper bound

ε L (%) 5.00 4.50 5.50

DSMA (mm) 0.20 0.08 0.30
Doutcannula (mm) 1.50 1.30 2.00
Dincannula (mm) 1.00 0.50 1.29
Doutholder (mm) 15.0 10.0 20.0
Dinholder (mm) 5.0 4.5 6.0
Offset (mm) 7.00 2.00 8.00
th (mm) 1.00 0.90 1.10
L (mm) 100 80 120
L1 (mm) 1.00 0.90 1.10

wire to be less than a critical level. The input design variables selected
were:
Fig. 12. Strain response of 0.20 mm SMA wire under different constant stresses.

• εL : maximum residual strain of SMA wires with different

by defining the thermal expansion coefficient, α , as shown in the diameters
Eqs. (5.1) and (5.2). This value of α was producing the same strain • DSMA : SMA wire diameter
response as the wire temperature rises from As to Af . FE model with • Doutcannula /Dincannula : cannula’s outer/inner diameter
the same geometry and dimension as described above was used in • offset: the offset distance between the neutral axis of cannula and
this approach. Element BEAM188 and SOLID185 were used for the SMA wire
wire and the cannula, respectively. • Doutholder /Dinholder : outer/inner diameter of the holder
• th: the thickness of the holder
H
α= (5.1) • L: total length of the cannula
As − Af • L1 : holder length
α = −0.0096 ◦ C−1 . (5.2)
The total deflection of the needle tip (δ tip ) and the maximum stress
6. Optimization of the active needle design (σ max ) of all elements were taken as desired output variables. The
baseline design point and the range of variation of each parameter
Iterative analysis tools presented in Section 2 (Figs. 2 and 3) were which were used in our goal driven optimization study are listed in
utilized here to aid the design process. Several design variables were Table 3. Starting from the initial baseline design point we sought the
taken into consideration to accomplish this task. In order to have a maximum needle tip deflection with the constraint that the SMA’s
lower computational time in the structural iterative assessments, the maximum stress must be lower than 150 MPa. The optimization task
simplified model (presented in Section 5.3) was used instead of the was done using two approaches: design of experiments (DOE) and
complete FE model (presented in Section 4.1). Moreover, the sim- multi-objective genetic algorithm (MOGA). It should be noted that
plified model provides global results of deflections and forces with the selected bond for the offset makes the overall scale of the needle
reasonable accuracies. Table 2 lists the deflection of the active needle much larger than the conventional needles (which are in the range of
predicted by the simplified model compared with the first proto- 18 gauge  OD = 1.27 mm). In order to have a needle this small,
type. It is also shown that the results of the FE model with nonlinear another method for attaching SMA wires is preferable. Therefore
stress–stress curves are very close (with less than 3% deviation) to another design was introduced by the same authors [25] to elim-
the simplified model. It should be noted that only the final deflection inate the collet component completely. In this work however, the
of the structure can be trusted with the simplified model since the effect of offset along with the other effective design parameters is
nonlinear hysteresis response of SMAs cannot be predicted by the discussed.
thermal expansion coefficient defined in this method. Assigning one The DOE task, which is a non-iterative direct sampling method,
dimensional element to SMA wire can lead to some degree of errors was performed by choosing 100 random possible configurations by
on the amount of stress; therefore a 100% safety factor was consid- ANSYS. The analysis showed that, among all input parameters, the
ered to avoid the plastic deformation. The objective in our design length of the cannula and the offset distance are the most influenc-
study was to achieve the maximum possible needle tip deflection to ing parameters on the needle tip deformation. Fig. 13(a) shows the
ensure the maximum flexibility while constraining the stress of SMA variation of needle tip deflection (the objective parameter) based on

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8 B. Konh et al. / Medical Engineering and Physics 000 (2015) 1–9

Fig. 13. Optimization results from the DOE method. (a) Visualization of the objective parameter with variation of cannula’s length and offset distance and (b) five best candidate
design points.

Fig. 14. Optimization results from the MOGA method. (a) Visualization of the objective parameter with variation of cannula’s length and offset distance and (b) ten best candidate
design points.

these two sensitive parameters for all the 100 design points. The five results were obtained using the two methods. The offset and the
best configurations having the maximum deflection are shown in DSMA values show a deviation of 41 and 39%, respectively. It was
Fig. 13(b). observed that the values of the five best candidates suggested by the
The MOGA study was also performed that provided a more refined DOE method do not show a specific trend so that a certain converged
approach to find the best design configuration. This optimization al- value can be interpreted. Comparing the best five candidates of DOE
gorithm started with the initial design point (Table 3) and iterated and MOGA method leads to a more or less deviations within different
through the whole domain with the samples evolving genetically un- parameters. The calculation time using MOGA was lower because
til the best case was found. The convergence achieved after 11 total iterations were done using genetic algorithm, therefore less number
iterations and 594 evaluations resulted in 10 best candidates for the of assessments/iterations was required. This suggests that MOGA
active needle design which are shown in Fig. 14(b). Also among all is a preferred optimization method over DOE, because results were
input parameters the offset, the cannula’s length and the cannula’s converged a shorter time.
outer diameter were shown to be the most influential parameters on As a clinical aspect, the tissue damage due to existence of heated
the needle tip deflection. The variation of the tip deflection based on elements of actuators has to be investigated thoroughly. The degree
variations of the two sensitive parameters (the total length and the to which real tissue is damaged due to the heated SMA wires was
offset) is shown in Fig. 14(a). studied using a phantom that shares the tissue’s thermal properties
Table 4 compares the best candidate design points obtained in our previous work [26]. In most cases the tissue necrosis occurs at
from DOE and MOGA methods. It was observed that almost similar temperatures above 50.4 °C as reported in [27]. The thermal damage

Please cite this article as: B. Konh et al., Design optimization study of a shape memory alloy active needle for biomedical applications, Medical
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Table 4
Comparison of the optimized design points obtained from DOE and MOGA methods (all dimensions are in mm).

ε L (%) DSMA Cannula Holder Offset th L L1 Maximum deflection

Dout Din Dout Din

DOE 4.68 0.15 1.36 1.09 16.44 5.46 4.37 0.92 118.54 1.06 45.93
MOGA 4.65 0.24 1.46 0.98 17.02 5.08 2.01 1.01 118.64 0.99 45.84

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Please cite this article as: B. Konh et al., Design optimization study of a shape memory alloy active needle for biomedical applications, Medical
Engineering and Physics (2015), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.medengphy.2015.02.013