Tekni-Plex will present its latest medical tubing and material innovations at Medical Japan, which will be held from 20 to 22 February.

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Image: Tekni-Plex to present latest medical tubing innovations at Medical Japan. Photo: courtesy of Tekni-Plex.

This includes medical silicone, microextruded and thermoplastic elastomer (TPE) tubing, and TPE compounds.

For medical silicone tubing, the company has added an additional extrusion line in its Suzhou, China, manufacturing facility that will increase capacity and enable the addition of smaller sizes.

The company now offers a broad size range of medical silicone tubing, with inside diameters from 0.2 to 25 mm (0.0079-0.984 inches), wall thicknesses ranging from 0.10 to 3.0 mm (0.0039-0.118 inches), and tolerances as low as +/- 0.03 mm (0.001 inch).

This newly expanded range of single-lumen silicone tubing is intended to better serve a range of medical pump applications, including peristaltic and patient-controlled analgesia (PCA) pumps.

The China facility also manufactures medical tubing in other materials including polyvinyl chloride (PVC), thermoplastic urethanes (TPU) and thermoplastic elastomers.  These include large diameter tubes for medical equipment down to small diameter microextruded tubing for endovascular catheter applications.  These microextruded tubes can be produced with walls as thin as 0.076 mm (0.003 inches) and coextruded with up to four layers.

Medical tubing is also available using the company’s proprietary Cellene® thermoplastic elastomer (TPE) compounds.  The Cellene® TPE compound line, which consists of 40 formulations, is ideal for medical device manufacturers and others looking for alternatives to PVC, phthalate-plasticized compounds and various rubber materials.

The company recently expanded the line to reduce the development cycle and provide manufacturers with greater options to obtain the durometer rating required for their applications.  These materials are also available for purchase by external processors, including extruders and injection molders.

Source: Company Press Release