Abstract
Driveshaft is a small spring coil (usually less than 1mm in diameter), made by several stainless-steel wire filaments, which transmits force and motion to the body through existing micro channels (such as arteries, veins, and gastrointestinal tract). The performance of the driveshaft determines the efficiency, stability, accuracy of force and motion transitions, the ability to pass through tortuous microchannels, and the damage to healthy tissues. In order to determine the influence of fabrication parameters (filament, wire diameter, outer diameter) on the mechanical properties (such as bending stiffness and natural frequency) of the driveshaft, a simulation was established in ABAQUS to calculate the deformation displacement under 0.0098N and first order natural frequency. The bending stiffness is calculated further. The results show that the bending stiffness and the first natural frequency of the driveshaft increase with the increase of the filament number and wire diameter. When the outer diameter of driveshaft increases, the bending stiffness increases, while the first order natural frequency decreases. In order to verify the simulation model, deformation displacement was measured in experiments. This study provides an idea for the design and selection of the driveshaft in the intervention process.
