Patent ID: 8268228

Claim:
A method for fabricating a stent comprising: radially deforming a polymer tube for use in fabrication of a stent from the deformed tube, wherein the radial deformation propagates along the tube axis as the tube is heated along the axis, the polymer tube having an internal tube pressure higher than ambient translating a heat source along an axis of the pressurized polymer tube to heat the tube to the deformation temperature, wherein the heat source is translated at a rate of 0.5 to 0.7 mm/s; controlling a temperature of the deforming polymer tube to provide a selected fracture toughness of the stent fabricated from the tube, wherein the temperature is controlled to provide a morphology of the polymer tube that provides the selected fracture toughness, and wherein the temperature is in a range in which a polymer crystal nucleation rate is larger than a polymer crystal growth rate; and fabricating the stent from the deformed tube.