IMPROVED WELDING METHOD Background of the Invention Fusion welding techniques, such as laser welding, electron beam welding, tungsten inert gas welding, plasma welding and others, commonly leave a pool of molten metal at the end of the weld pass that solidifies after heat input to the weld has terminated. The terminal pool is commonly the weakest portion of the weld and is often the site of fracture initiation under moderate to low stress. Welds produced in nickel-titanium alloys (nitinol) are particularly prone to this problem.

Summarv of the Invention The invention comprises a method of moving the location of the terminal pool in fusion welds to better accommodate high stress areas. This is accomplished by utilizing a multiple pass weld technique. The welding technique utilizes weld passes which initiate at remote portions of the area to be welded such as each end of a joint to be welded, and terminate within the interior of the weld area at or near a common meeting point. The multiple passes may overlap within the weld but overlap is not required. This technique is especially useful in devices having portions comprised of nitinol which require welding, such as in medical stents.

Brief Description of the Figures Reference is made to the accompanying drawings in which illustrative embodiments of the invention are shown and from which the novel features and advantages of the invention will be apparent.

Figure 1 is a schematic showing of a multiple pass method of welding according to the invention wherein the two passes meet at a common point.

Figure 2 is similar to Figure 1 showing overlap between the multiple passes.

Figure 3 is a perspective view of one form of stent which may make use of the invention.

Detailed Description of Preferred Embodiments of the Invention Referring to Figures 1 and 2, it will be seen that a metal workpiece to be joined consisting of two elongate pieces 10 and 12 respectively brought into contact at 14 may be fusion welded according to the invention by two passes. Pass one starts as indicated (START PASS 1) at an outer portion 16 of a weld area and moves to the right in the Figure to end in a terminal pool as indicated at END PASS 1. A second pass (START PASS 2) begins at 18 and moves to the left in the Figure ending as indicated in a terminal pool at END PASS 2. In this embodiment the welding method utilizes two weld passes which initiate at each end of the joint and terminate within the interior of the weld joint the progression of the weld passes is shown schematically by the succession of circular areas.

Figure 2 similarly uses two passes which move toward each other.

However, they overlap as shown in the Figure where it can be seen that PASS 1 beginning at 16 and moving to the left in the Figure and PASS 2 beginning at 18 and moving to the right in the Figure can be seen to overlap within the weld to form a terminal pool.

For the purposes of this invention, as already indicated above, any of the various known forms of fusion welding may be utilized. Laser welding is presently most preferred. The passes may be sequential or simultaneous.

Referring to Figure 3 it will be seen that an illustrative medical stent may include a skeletal frame generally indicated at 2, preferably formed from a single nitinol wire 4, bent to form a desired configuration. The wire 4 includes a plurality of abutting straight portions 6 which are joined to each other by welding utilizing the method described in Figures 1 or 2 above. As already pointed out, a nitinol stent especially benefits from this invention because nitinol stents are particularly prone to the problem of fracture initiation at the weld ends where terminal pools have been formed utilizing prior art welding techniques. The stent shown is fully disclosed in U.S. patent 5,354,308 and U.S. patent 5,395,390 and the entire content of both of these patents are incorporated herein by reference. The stent shown in Figure 3 is shown here as an exemplary stent which may make use of the method of the invention although the method will find application in other stent configurations and in other metallic devices which require welding.

This disclosure is intended to be illustrative and not exhaustive.

It will suggest many variations and alternatives to one of ordinary skill in this art. All these alternatives and variations are intended to be included within the scope of the attached claims. Those familiar with the art may recognize other equivalents to the specific embodiments described herein which equivalents are also intended to be encompassed by the claims attached hereto.