Medical Tube extrusion

Not only material is important but in extruded medical devices, highly precision processing is required, especially for multilumen, microbore, coextruded, or cross-head- extruded tubes, for which the diameter tolerances can be as small as ±5 µm. Catheter tubes are also receiving attention, with stringent tolerances on the dimension of the tube. Tolerance on diameter is one of the main technical features when developing a medical tubing extrusion project, and Bausano Single Screw extruders and Twin-Screw extruders are designed to satisfy your requests.

In fact, to guarantee that a manufacturer's medical multilumen will sustain precise flow levels, the extrusion process must provide the consistency of all tube dimensions. A typical tolerance for medical tubes range is ±1%, which for a medical tube with an internal diameter of 1.6 mm translates to accuracies of ±10 µm.

Outside diameter is controlled by vacuum calibration. Most Bausano extruders feature accurate low-level vacuum control, which keeps the outside diameter of the tube stable.

Internal lumens must also be accurately controlled. In a multilumen tube, each lumen has a defined end use, with the cross-sectional area controlling the flow rate, a minimum internal diameter for guidewire insertion, and shape-related draw characteristics for postforming operations.

Thanks to our extrusion technology and corresponding downstream accessories, tubing can be manufactured with internal diameters measuring from 0.8 mm up to 17 mm. All tubing products are manufactured according to the customer's specifications with respect to material properties, measurements, and tolerance requirements.