Adapting Prototyping to Meet Rapid Advances in Medical Device Designs

Rapid prototyping has long played a vital role in the evolution of medical device technology. Effectively applied during a product's early design stages, it can generate...

Microextrusion Tubing Advances Help Push Medical Device Boundaries

Over the past five years, technological advances have enabled product applications for microextrusion to penetrate into the medical OEM arena. Simply speaking, micro now really...

Making the Gas Assist Plastic Molding Process Work for Medical Applications

Gas assist molding offers a variety of process and design advantages for medical equipment applications. It produces parts that are smooth and extremely cleanable,...

Considerations for Specifying Ultra-Engineering Polymers for Extruded Medical Applications – Part 1

There has been a profound shift is taking place in the medical industry of more minimally invasive, quicker, and more-effective procedures....

Optimizing Performance and Value of Medical Devices with the Right Plastic Processing Technology

Engineering thermoplastics are widely used to manufacture a broad range of medical devices, from single-use syringes and applicators to diagnostic...

Advanced Machining and Automation Reduce Medical Device Tubing Costs

In order to stay competitive in today’s medical device marketplace, it is imperative that companies continually invest in the latest technologies to ensure that they produce...

A Multilayered Approach to Extruded Tubing

Along with cost savings, coextrusion technology offers improved functionality in new tubing products. This article explores how this micro-dimensional tubing is currently being used to meet...

Reinforced Silicone Tube Options for Kink, Wear, or Burst Resistance

Its biocompatibility, flexibility, and durability have made extruded silicone the top choice for tubing in many medical devices. Of course, designing devices that will be...

INSIDE STORY: Zeus Industrial Products, Inc.

To find out more about how the use of LCP monofilament in catheter braiding is expected to support the development of advanced surgical procedures — in cardiology and beyond — MDB recently spoke with Zeus researchers Bruce Anneaux, PhD, corporate director of research and development, and Zahidul Wahab, PhD, senior research engineer.

On-Demand Injection Molding: 3D Printed Assistive Devices for the Blind

Helping blind people gain a sense of vision — and doing so through their tongues — sounds like pure science fiction. It's now a reality, however, thanks to the...

Maintaining Quality and Efficiency of Extrusion Tooling

Today's machining tolerances are held extremely close on multilumen and multi-layer medical tubing through the use of state-of-the-art production equipment and processes. Any misalignment...

Computational Fluid Dynamics in Extrusion Tooling

Applying fluid dynamic principles to extrusion tooling design benefits any medical device company involved with continuous extrusion. Benefits include improved product tolerances, reduced waste,...

Silicone Pump Segments for Medication and Feeding Pumps

They are vitally important, make therapy possible, and they have become an integral part in hospitals or home-care settings: medication and feeding pumps supply patients with essential...

Technological Advancements and Industry Trends in the Medical Extrusion Market

In an increasingly volatile and complex market environment, adaptability becomes essential to success and business growth for today’s medical extruder. Basic to...

Avoiding Pitfalls in Development of Advanced Custom Extrusions

The custom medical extrusion industry is growing in all directions. The push to be minimally invasive is pushing devices to be smaller and smaller. Cutting-edge raw materials are...

Intelligent Tubing for Bioresorbable Scaffolds

Bioresorbable stent scaffolds are balloon-expandable and have been used to replace metallic stents to treat the narrowing of arteries and airway passages. Like traditional metallic scaffolds,...

Selecting Pump Tubing: Just Remember “STAMP”

Choosing pump tubing successfully results in a system that delivers optimal performance and prevents redesign and troubleshooting later. For medical device applications, custom OEM peristaltic...

Top 5 Concerns When Selecting a Custom Extruder

Finding the right custom extrusion and plastics company to manufacture and provide a key custom component to your end-product needs can often seem a daunting task. With an abundance of responses...

Mold Design and Cavitation Strategy: Best Practices in Aligning Tooling with Requirements

Medical manufacturers of single-use products have a dual challenge: achieving high levels of quality while maintaining competitive cost. From an injection...

Material Selection in a Complex Regulatory Environment

Understanding material selection trends and complying with the needs of governing regulatory agencies is fundamental to success in medical device production. As manufacturers set...

Silicone: Expanding the Horizon for Today’s Medical Devices

Silicone materials have been around for more than 70 years and since the 1960s have played an important and evolving part in products designed for the medical field. Since that time,...

Creating a Technically Advanced Medical Tube: An Independent Extruder’s Perspective

With catheters and medical devices becoming increasingly advanced and specialized, so has the process of creating that device. With complex designs, or...

PVC vs. Polyurethane: A Tubing Comparison

PVC and polyurethane are thermoplastic materials that can be formed into a variety of shapes, including tubing and reinforced hose. Both materials are useful in numerous applications. But depending on...

Plastics Molding: The Path of Least Resistance

According to Henry David Thoreau, “the path of least resistance leads to crooked rivers and crooked men.” But in plastic injection molding, it leads to balanced filling patterns, more uniform...

Revitalizing Product Development with Aluminum Extrusions

To control product development costs without sacrificing quality, medical device OEMs are giving new life to their product development process by turning to aluminum extrusions instead...

Where Component Design Functionality and Cost Reduction Converge

The need to control and reduce costs by manufacturers of surgical instruments, medical devices, and healthcare consumable goods has been accelerated by a variety of current...

Novel Polymer Technology Bids Farewell to Tri-layer

Modern medicine has come a long way from the reed catheters of ancient Syria or the metal tubes of Benjamin Franklin’s time. As doctors discover more and more ways to utilize minimally...

Reservoir Seals, Tubing, and LSR Make the Difference for Medical Devices

Medical science has made great strides in advancing the care and treatment of people around the globe. Thermoplastic and elastomeric materials have been an essential part...