Surface treatments prepare tubes for processing

Edited by the Engineeringtalk editorial team Mar 9, 2006

Tantec has been working with the adhesion problems on catheter tubing for 12 years and is now capable of offering two of the most advanced surface treatment technologies available.

By increasing the surface tension on catheter tubing, corona treatment improves the bonding properties of adhesives and coatings - thereby adding extra safety and reliability to high value medical devices, claims Dyne Technology.

Today, catheter tubing is mostly made of polypropylene or hypoallergenic PVC.

Surface treatment of catheter tubing is necessary to ensure that coatings and inks stick to the surface.

Tantec, represented in the UK by Dyne Technology, has been working with the adhesion problems on catheter tubing for 12 years and is now capable of offering two of the most advanced surface treatment technologies available - plasma and corona treatment.

Tantec is a global leader in developing plasma and corona dischargers.

Both of these processes eliminate many of the risks and disadvantages associated with other treatment technologies, such as no loss of high gloss surface finish, no thermal stress to the product, no use of hazardous chemicals etc Tantec's corona and plasma systems allow substantial flexibility in the treatment of a wide variety of materials and products used in the medical industry, and is a key process to solve adhesion problems.

According to Dyne Technology the simplest definition of corona and plasma treatment is that they are methods of increasing the surface tension of certain materials.

Increased surface tension ensures that other materials such as a coating, glue or printing ink will bond better to the treated material.

The process chemically roughens the surface, and allows it to "grab onto" the ink, coating, or adhesive being applied.

The resulting chemical bond that occurs is thus stronger than a simple mechanical bond with the surface.

One of Europe's largest producers of catheter tubing approached Tantec with a problem.

The company faced a situation where it could not make the shaft of a catheter tube stick to the tube.

Tantec came up with a solution that involved partial corona treatment of the tubing.

Only the end of the tube is treated before the glue is applied and the shaft attached.

This partial treatment ensures a very strong adhesion between the components - thereby increasing the safety of the product.

Another of Tantec's customers required that its catheter tubes were treated on the entire surface prior to printing as part of a continuous production process.

Tantec met the customer's needs by developing a corona treater that fits into a continuous production process and that ensures an even treatment of the entire catheter tube surface.

A third European producer of catheter tubes approached Tantec this year concerning the treatment of semifinished catheter tubes.

The extruded tubes had already been cut into pieces, and they were to be entirely treated prior to coating.

The customer's production process required some new thinking from Tantec, and this resulted in a tailor-made vacuum chamber in which 90 catheter tubes could be treated at the same time.

Deciding on the best treatment method for a particular job can be difficult before the entire production process has been analysed.

To identify which method is the best for a given product depends on whether the surface is to be glued, printed or coated, and whether complete or only partial surface treatment is required.

After analysing the process in detail, Dyne Technology can offer a treatment solution that can be specially adapted to virtually any new or existing production process.