Medical PTFE liner, with its excellent biocompatibility, corrosion resistance, high-temperature resistance, low friction and other properties, has extensive and important applications in the field of medical devices.
In interventional therapeutic devices, PTFE liner is used to manufacture microcatheters, mechanical thrombectomy catheters, aspiration catheters, guiding catheters and other interventional therapeutic devices. Due to its ultra-thin wall thickness (up to tens of micrometers) and good lubricity, the catheter can smoothly pass through narrow and curved vascular channels, while enhancing and exerting the performance of the catheter.
This article introduces the characteristics of three types of PTFE liners from the perspective of technological methods to help everyone understand and select more suitable PTFE liner products.
As the first domestic enterprise to master the ultra-thin wall thickness 0.0005" (0.0127mm) extruded PTFE liner technology, jMedtech has constructed the technical system of PTFE liner products with three major processes, namely the free extrusion process, the extrusion process with core-shaft and the dip coating process.
Free extrusion process
Process introduction: Mix PTFE powder with organic solvents/lubricants and compress to form prefabricated parts; Then, the prefabricated parts are produced into thin-walled PTFE tubes through an extruder. After extrusion, the pipe undergoes sintering and etching, and finally ultra-thin-walled pipes are produced.
Feature: The extrusion process can loosen the grains in the PTFE matrix, forming the original fibers in the axial or extrusion direction, which helps to enhance the strength and rigidity of the material. It is suitable for high-precision conveying systems that have requirements for yield strength and supporting force.
Parameters of jMedtech freely extruded PTFE liner:
Dip coating process
Process introduction: PTFE concentrated dispersion is coated on metal core wires (such as stainless steel or copper), and then sintering is carried out. Repeat the sintering process of the casting film until the required coating thickness is achieved. Finally, the core wire is pulled out, leaving the thin-walled PTFE tube.
Features: High uniformity of wall thickness, smooth inner wall, and excellent flexibility. Its yield strength is relatively weaker than that of the free extrusion process, and it is suitable for products with high flexibility requirements, such as minimally invasive surgical catheters.
Parameters of jMedtech Dip Coated PTFE liner:
Extrusion process with mandrel
Process Introduction: The production is achieved by optimizing the extrusion process with a mandrel, integrating the characteristics of both free extrusion and dip coating processes.
Features: It can balance the flexibility and yield strength of the product, making its control ability in wall thickness and flexibility comparable to that of the dip coating process. Moreover, it has a certain molecular directional arrangement structure, which enables it to maintain a strong yield capacity.
Parameters of jMedtech core-shaft extruded PTFE liner:
The senior R&D technical team of jMedtech, integrating three major PTFE liner production processes, has launched competitive products:
Shorter delivery cycle
Standard pipe products will be delivered within 2 weeks, and regular customized sizes within 4 to 8 weeks.
jMedtech has a complete quality evaluation system, provides internal testing services, helps clients manage and supervise process risks, improves efficiency, and promotes the progress of client projects.
A wider range of customization
jMedtech masters three process technologies, precisely controlling wall thickness, inner diameter and tolerance, and the range of customizable dimensions is also constantly expanding. A wider range of customization meets various performance design and clinical needs, providing more possibilities for customers to develop high-quality medical device products.
Stronger yield
The R&D team of jMedtech continuously breaks through product performance and creates high yield strength products with balanced wall thickness and yield force. Among them, the yield strength of the freely extruded PTFE liner product can be increased to 80.5MPa.
The technical team of jMedtech can enable PTFE liner products with different wall thicknesses to meet the corresponding yield force requirements and satisfy the design needs of customers.
The free extrusion process, core-shaft extrusion process and dip coating process cover most of the requirements of catheter design. As one of the few medical material providers that master the three major processes of PTFE liner, jMedtech hopes to help customers select the suitable PTFE liner products. Provide assistance for engineers to explore more advanced catheter or vascular delivery system designs.
