Medtronic Vascular, Inc.

Ceramext, LLC

Jerry Warmerdam

Dustin Thompson

Paul John Coates

Larry Childs

Lance Ensign

Rui Lam

Michael Costa

Justin Eckhardt

Charlie Dawson

Bob Boldig

Robert Donald Villwock

Ross Guenther

James L Wood

Joseph Richard Cochran

An apparatus for forming a wave form for a stent from a wire includes a pair of tension wires configured to rotate about an axis. The tension wires and axis are substantially orthogonal to the stent wire disposed in a gap between the tension wires. When the tension wires are rotated, a bend is formed in the portion of the stent wire disposed between the tension wires. The tension wires may be controlled such that the axis of rotation is aligned with the particular tension wire around which the stent wire is to be bent for each particular bend formed in the stent wire, thereby preventing the particular tension wire from translating during rotation such that the tension wire behaves like a rotary pipe bending die around which the stent wire is bent. A feed assembly feeds the stent wire into the forming area between the tension wires.

Apparatus and method for forming a wave form for a stent from a wire

The embodiments of the invention are directed to a synthetic ceramic comprising pyroxene-containing crystalline phase, a clast, and a glass phase, wherein at least a portion of the synthetic ceramic is plastically deformable in a certain temperature range. Other embodiments of the invention relate to a method of making a synthetic ceramic, comprising heating a green ceramic material to 900-1400&#xb0; C., to a temperature sufficient to initiate partial melting of at least a portion of the green ceramic material, transferring the heated green ceramic material to a press, pressing the heated green ceramic material in a die at 1,000 to 10,000 psi, and transferring the heated, pressed green ceramic material to a furnace for cooling to form the synthetic ceramic.

Process for hot-forging synthetic ceramic

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Nevada City, CA, United States of America

Jerry Warmerdam