Platinum-iridium alloy is a very suitable electronic material in the medical field, and it plays a vital role in improving human life. Our company can produce different sizes and models of platinum and iridium wire products, and with certification from professional quality inspection institutions, you can rest assured to order our products.
Excellent characteristics
Platinum has good biocompatibility, corrosion resistance, radiopacity, and electrical conductivity, and is a highly favored material in the field of bioelectronics. It has ductility and toughness, with a Vickers hardness of 56 HV 8, but pure platinum is too soft to insert into neural tissue. Iridium is highly biocompatible and corrosion-resistant, and it is radiopaque. But iridium is very hard and is very difficult to process.
Combining platinum with iridium gives a magical alloy- one that combines the chemical stability and ductility of platinum and the high hardness of iridium, while retaining key biocompatibility: corrosion resistance, radiopacity, and electrical conductivity.
Practical and applied medical devices
Platinum-iridium wire has been used in various medical devices, such as cochlear implants, cardiac pacemakers, and cyclotrons for cancer protons, thus improving the quality of life of all mankind.
(1) A cochlear implant is one of the main medical devices using platinum-iridium wire, which is usually used in patients with severe hearing loss or inner ear damage and still poor hearing. With a sound processor mounted behind the ear, the cochlear implant can capture sound signals and send them to a receiver located under the skin behind the ear. The receiver then bypasses the damaged area of the ear and sends the sound signal to the electrode implanted in the inner ear, and eventually the signal stimulates the auditory nerve and guides the brain to produce hearing.
(2) A cardiac pacemaker is another important application of platinum and iridium wire. It is a small electronic device implanted in the chest, which is mainly used to treat arrhythmias, and sometimes can help restore the coordinated contraction of the heart. The cardiac pacemaker consists of a pulse generator and a lead. The pulse generator is composed of batteries and electronic components to control the electrical signals sent to the heart; the flexible insulated wire is inserted into a specific heart cavity to import the electrical signals into the muscle and thus return the heartbeat to normal.
(3) Platinum-iridium wire is used in cyclotron manufacturing for cancer proton therapy, which can guide protons to penetrate the body at a very fast speed to a deep tumor. Proton therapy is a radiation therapy that uses protons rather than X-rays to target and eliminate specific tumor types. Particle accelerators are the core of proton therapy systems; one of these is the cyclotron, which uses a magnetic field to enable these protons to move around and uses radio waves to provide energy to increase the speed of protons to two-thirds of the speed of light.
