Patent 7632309 was granted and assigned to St. Jude Medical Center on December, 2009 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
Medical devices can be formed from improved composite materials that include a composition that has at least about 50 percent by volume pyrolytic carbon and a second composition having at least about 50 percent by volume metal/metalloid carbide. The composite material can optionally include a substrate. Some embodiments of the composite material have the pyrolytic carbon material at exposed surfaces.