Medical Coating Markets

Many medical devices require a combination of substrates; Precision Coating can apply the appropriate coating to each from the GlideLine™ family of products, as well as InfiNiTiCoat™, to optimize design, manufacture, assembly  and clinical performance. Nitinol can be used in any interventional platform and is the preferred material for wires used in neurovascular, peripheral vascular, structural heart, urologic, and orthodontic devices and procedures based on its super-elastic and shape memory properties.

InfiNiTiCoat™ is our proprietary low-temp cure process, which allows us to achieve exceptional coating performance on nitinol devices, specifically optimized to preserve the desired characteristics of nitinol in wire, strip, and tube forms. Precision Coating has unique process control over challenging nitinol handling, coating, and curing.

Nitinol is used extensively in interventional medicine platforms and is the preferred material for delivery systems used in complex vascular and non-vascular procedures because of its shape memory and super-elastic properties. When medical devices such as guidewires, PTCA pushers, stent, and valve replacement delivery systems require a combination of assembled components—such as stainless steel and nitinol coils, tubes, and cores—Precision Coating can optimize the appropriate coating for each component of the assembly to optimize design considerations and mechanical and clinical performance.

Interventional Cardiology

guide wires core wiresPrecision Coating applies medical grade PTFE to devices used in interventional cardiology procedures focused on catheter-based treatment of structural heart diseases. Catheterization involves the insertion of a sheath into a peripheral artery or vein and cannulating the heart under X-ray visualization. A typical procedure would involve the deployment of stents and balloons to care for an acute myocardial infarction.

Guide Wires and Core Wires

Typical devices coated in interventional cardiology procedures are guide wires and core wires. PTFE provides low friction to a wire allowing for ease of insertion of a catheter and high release (non-stick) to prevent blood from clotting on the wire. Wire sizes range from 0.013” to 0.022” diameter with coating tolerances from 0.0002” to 0.0007”.

Hypotubes

A long metal tube, a hypotube is a critical component in interventional cardiology devices as well as raw material for needles. PTFE coatings are applied to hypotubes of various lengths and diameters.

Precision Coating has over 25 years of experience coating interventional cardiology devices.

Benefits of our hypotube coating service include:

  • Low friction coating. Hypotubes can be coated in black, blue, or green PTFE coatings for low friction. We offer low-cure versions that do not oxidize the outer diameter (OD) or inner diameter (ID), eliminating the need for post-tarnish removal.
  • Selective area coating. Selective coating of areas or masking of non-coated marker band surfaces is well within our capabilities.

Orthopedic/Trauma

Drill Bits/Augers

Precision Coating has long applied medical PTFE to orthopedic devices such as augers used in drilling applications. The coating is durable and abrasion resistant to withstand higher rotational speeds. Tight coating tolerances and low friction properties of the coating allow the device to be deployed easily.

Neurovascular

PTFE coatings are critical to functional performance of neurovascular guide wires for the treatment of intracranial aneurysms. Precision Coating applies PTFE coatings to wires as thin at .004” diameter holding deposition tolerances to 0.0002” to 0.0005” per surface.

Endoscopic

Endoscopic devices constructed of an inner core wire (or mandrel) and outer spiral coil requires highly accurate PTFE coatings that do not bridge the coils and do not impact the stiffness of the device. Precision Coating has developed a coating deposition technique to ensure all coated coils meet the designed specifications.

Orthodontic

Orthodontic archwires are coated with PTFE primarily for aesthetic reasons with Precision Coating offering many colors from off-white to blue and red. Archwires are either nickel-titanium (Nitinol) or stainless steel and come in rectangular and round shapes. Precision Coating has developed a proprietary process to coat the labial surface of a rectangular archwire.