Abstract
The purpose of this study is to investigate the snap-through phenomenon of catheter made of soft nylon resin and is reinforced with thin stainless wires. The buckling behavior under initial torsion has been examined by using short specimens due to perform more accurate measurement. As a consequence, the influence of stress relaxation on the buckling behavior has been made clear in a series of our previous reports. However, in the actual usage, there is a possibility that the snap-through phenomenon occurs when the relatively long specimens are used. So, in this study, the snap-through behavior of catheter under initial torsion is examined. In particular, the experiments, using the test pieces impregnated with water, are carried out by changing the angle of the initial torsion, the length of specimens and axial displacement speed variously. Then, the occurrence regions of the snap-through behavior of the hydrous and the non hydrous catheters are investigated and discussed in this paper.
