Just found this cool online article by R&D Magazine about some amazing metal used to improve a life saving heart procedure.

When inserting coronary artery stents, those made of 316L stainless steel are difficult to see by X-ray. To aid doctors during this life saving procedure, a dream team developed a unquie platinum/chromium alloy that is now used for the manufacture of improved coronary stents with enhanced X-ray visibility and other features.  See the full article at  http://www.rdmag.com/Awards/Rd-100-Awards/2011/08/Platinum-adds-X-ray-visibility/.  This product was a 2011 R&D 100 winner!

I’m proud to say I once worked with the highlighted metallurgist Heilmann back in the day at Sandia Labs before he was famous…

Developers:
National Energy Technology Laboratory
Boston Scientific Corporation Inc.
Carpenter Specialty Alloys
Minitubes, ZAC Technisud
Accellent Inc.

The dream team that developed this platinum/chromium alloy for the manufacture of these unique coronary stents:
Paul Jablonski, Principal Developer, National Energy Technology Laboratory
Paul Turner, Principal Developer, National Energy Technology Laboratory
Edward Argetsinger, National Energy Technology Laboratory
Dennis Boismier, Boston Scientific Corporation Inc.
Mark Broadley, Accellent
Matthew Cambronne, Boston Scientific Corporation Inc.
Charles Craig, Boston Scientific Corporation Inc.
Roger Dickenson, Accellent
Richard Gleixner, Carpenter Specialty Alloys
James Heilmann, Carpenter Specialty Alloys
Ed Pannek, Boston Scientific Corporation Inc.
Philippe Poncin, Minitubes ZAC
Herb Radisch, Former Boston Scientific Corporation Inc.
Jon Stinson, Boston Scientific Corporation Inc.
Louis Toth, Boston Scientific Corportion Inc.
Thomas Trocero, Former Boston Scientific Corporation Inc.