US 12,213,878 B2
Heart valve
Raimondo Ascione, Bristol (GB); Geoffrey Moggridge, Cambridge (GB); Joanna Stasiak, Cambridge (GB); Marta Serrani, Cambridge (GB); and Eugenia Biral, Cambridge (GB)
Assigned to THE UNIVERSITY OF BRISTOL, Bristol (GB); and CAMBRIDGE ENTERPRISE LIMITED, Cambridge (GB)
Appl. No. 17/434,724
Filed by THE UNIVERSITY OF BRISTOL, Bristol (GB); and CAMBRIDGE ENTERPRISE LIMITED, Cambridge (GB)
PCT Filed Feb. 28, 2020, PCT No. PCT/GB2020/050491
§ 371(c)(1), (2) Date Aug. 27, 2021,
PCT Pub. No. WO2020/174253, PCT Pub. Date Sep. 3, 2020.
Claims priority of application No. 1902717 (GB), filed on Feb. 28, 2019.
Prior Publication US 2022/0125580 A1, Apr. 28, 2022
Int. Cl. A61F 2/24 (2006.01); B29C 45/00 (2006.01); B29C 45/16 (2006.01); B29C 45/72 (2006.01); B29K 25/00 (2006.01); B29K 105/00 (2006.01); B29L 31/00 (2006.01)
CPC A61F 2/2415 (2013.01) [A61F 2/2418 (2013.01); B29C 45/0001 (2013.01); B29C 45/1679 (2013.01); B29C 45/7207 (2013.01); B29K 2025/08 (2013.01); B29K 2105/0085 (2013.01); B29K 2995/0044 (2013.01); B29K 2995/0082 (2013.01); B29L 2031/7534 (2013.01)] 24 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A method of manufacturing a heart valve, the method comprising:
a step of injection moulding a first part of the heart valve from a material comprising a first block-copolymer, wherein the injection moulding is performed at a temperature below an order-disorder transition temperature of the first block copolymer, such that a phase structure is present in the molten block-copolymer;
a step of injection moulding a second part of the heart valve from a material comprising a second block-copolymer that is different to the first block-copolymer, by over-moulding over the first part to form an over-moulded structure, wherein the injection moulding is performed at a temperature below order-disorder transition temperatures for the first and second block copolymers, such that a phase structure is present in the molten second block-copolymer and remains present in the first block-copolymer; and
a step of cooling the over-moulded structure, without heating it above the order-disorder transition temperatures between the step of injection moulding the second part and the step of cooling, so as to preserve an arrangement of the phase structures created during the steps of injection moulding and produce anisotropic physical properties in the second part.