Extruded Tubing

Lasers & Extruded Medical Tubing

Lasers are high-precision machining instruments that cut micron-scale features in extruded tubing that enable specific medical applications, such as intravascular drug or stent delivery.

About

Extruded medical tubing is a commonly used component in medical devices. It is manufactured from a variety of materials and in a wide range of shapes and sizes. Important chemical and physical properties include heat and chemical resistance, lubricity, flexibility, kink resistance, and drug-eluting capabilities. Laser micromachining is a high-precision process that can make a variety of micron-sized features that enhance the functionality of our medical tubing offerings. In fact, lasers can cut complex features in tubing that cannot be made with any other process.

Laser Methods for Medical Tubing

High-precision laser methods that are frequently used for medical tubing include:

  • Laser ablation— “vaporizes” material from the tubing’s surface at the micron level, with little or no negative thermal or structural damage to surrounding material
  • Laser cutting—cuts miniaturized, complex features as small as 0.0002 inches (5 microns) with no heat effects, in a variety of materials
  • Laser drilling—common requests include micron-size holes, spiral arrays, blind wells, and specialized portals that can be drilled in a variety of patterns with the highest precision, without burrs

Medical Tubing Applications

Medical applications for laser-machined extruded tubing include:

  • Cutting tight-tolerance tubing to length
  • Reducing the outer diameter of medical tubing
  • Enhancing flexibility with spiral cuts and patterns
  • Providing clearance for marker bands
  • Exposing inner satellite lumens
  • Drilling hole arrays in filter membranes
  • Reinforcing surgical components
  • Drug delivery, irrigation, and infusion products
  • Catheter components
Component Webstore

Off-the-Shelf Medical Tubing Extrusions

Our “off-the-shelf “extruded tubing with laser-cut hole configurations for various medical applications is available via Spectrum Plastics Group’s web store (webstore.spectrumplastics.com) and includes:

  • Tubing sizes: 4 Fr–12 Fr
  • Wall sizes: 0.005"–0.010"
  • Materials: Pebax® 55D and Nylon 12
  • Laser-cut hole configurations in various arrays
  • New sizes and materials coming soon
Spectrum Plastics Group component webstore
Spectrum Plastics Group component webstore
Contact a Laser Processing Specialist
1.404.564.8560
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