Why Use Plastic Tubing in Medical Device Manufacturing?
One of the most-exciting times at Axenics is when we get to witness new technology for the medical device industry being born. Portable medical devices is a strong area of projected growth over the coming years.
Because we are an end-to-end manufacturer, we often get early looks at innovations in industries, and our precision engineering solutions are often used to improve the functionality of a medical device manufacturer’s final products.
While our technicians are masters when it comes to metal fabrication, metals can quickly become troublesome in medical device manufacturing because some of the chemicals transported within tubing can erode the material.
Plus, metal corrosion can contaminate chemicals during processing. Axenics has a solution for original equipment manufacturers: custom plastic tubing. We have expertise in plastic tube bending, and our team is able to form a variety of shapes and angles using various types of plastic tubing.
Polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) is a common type of plastic that is chemical-resistant, making it the perfect choice for tubing that will involve the transportation of liquids that would otherwise erode metal. Axenics’ team also has extensive experience working with polypropylene (PP), polyvinyl chloride (PVC), and chlorinated polyvinyl chloride (CPVC), which are also used in the medical device industry.
Axenics’ custom tube-bending processes can be used on plastic piping as small as 1/16 inches and as large as 2 inches. We’re proud of the proprietary technology developed in-house involving plastic tube bending. Our tubes are free of kinks – something that is detrimental to the chemical flow process in tubing. When chemicals become trapped in a kink of a tube, the flow rate is negatively affected. Worse, the chemical can dry into the kink, forcing some manufacturers to always be sterilizing their piping to clear out the chemicals. This adds cost to your final product.
We have a Class 100 cleanroom where we can process raw plastic tubing free from contaminants. This tactic reduces the number of contaminants on the plastic from the start.
Saving Space, Saving Money
Axenics keeps a cleanroom and testing labs on site to allow our clients to focus on optimizing chemical manufacturing processes, instead of looking for workspace to ensure clean, high-quality tube production.
Our team of master tube benders create a variety of shapes and bends that can decrease the number of joints and fittings required in an assembly. This can save you money on elbows and other joints to redirect the plastic tubing. Your specifications are utilized, which allows fast production of plastic tube assemblies while saving you space.
Precision engineering of medical device components continues to be one of our primary focuses at Axenics. We are able to keep our tube-bending processing costs low by utilizing our proprietary methods as well as maintaining great vendor relationships for acquiring raw materials. We share these savings with our clients. As technology in the medical device industry advances, we ensure our facility and team are always growing, too.
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