The price of nickel-titanium alloy (NiTi), a high-end material commonly used in medical devices, has increased. The main reasons include the following:
High demand: NiTi alloys are widely used in high-performance medical devices such as guidewires, stents, and catheters, and demand continues to rise due to their superelasticity and shape memory properties that are essential in minimally invasive procedures.
Manufacturing costs: The complex processes required to produce the material, particularly chemical composition control and subsequent processing, contribute to its relatively high cost.
Global economic volatility: Raw material supply chain issues and increased R&D investment have also pushed up prices.
Such price increases may push companies to explore alternative materials or optimize designs to reduce costs.
1. Reasons for High Demand in Detail
Development of medical technology: With the popularization of minimally invasive surgery, Nitinol has become the core material for interventional devices such as guide wires, stents and cardiovascular devices due to its shape memory properties and super elasticity, and demand continues to rise.
Aging population: The aging society increases the demand for medical devices, especially cardiovascular-related devices.
Expanding application scenarios: In addition to cardiovascular field, the application of Nitinol in dentistry, orthopedics and other fields is also growing rapidly.
2. Manufacturing cost challenges
Complex production process: Nitinol requires high precision control of chemical composition, which, coupled with the complexity of melting, cold working, and heat treatment, increases the difficulty of manufacturing.
Precision machining needs: In order to meet the high performance demands of medical applications (e.g., fatigue resistance and surface finish of guide wires), the machining process requires high-precision equipment and technology.
Material depletion: Low recycling efficiency of scrap during processing further pushes up costs.
The manufacturing cost of Ni-Ti alloys mainly includes the following aspects:
Raw material cost: Nickel and titanium are rare metals with large price fluctuations, which directly affect the material cost.
Melting and refining: high temperature melting and strict chemical composition control are required, which is energy-consuming and technically complex.
Processing costs: These include cold working (e.g. wire drawing) and heat treatment, which require specialized equipment and technology.
Surface treatment: Medical-grade products require high surface finish and precision, making processing more difficult.
Scrap Loss: Low material utilization in production increases recycling costs.
R&D and compliance: R&D and certification costs are also required to meet medical device standards.
3. Impact of global economic fluctuations
Rising prices of raw materials: Market prices of nickel and titanium, the basic raw materials, fluctuate frequently due to geopolitical conflicts and supply chain disruptions.
Increased logistics costs: International transportation costs have risen, making the overall cost of the supply chain higher.
Increased investment in R&D: In order to meet new performance requirements, companies need to invest more resources in material improvements and equipment upgrades, which further pushes up prices.
These factors work together to make the market price of nickel-titanium alloy appear to continue to rise.
