With over 50 years of fluoropolymer applications expertise and a state-of-the-art facility dedicated solely to medical device coatings, Precision Coating is an acknowledged industry leader in the application of numerous specialized coatings for medical OEMs. Available fluoropolymer coating materials include PTFE, FEP, PVDF, PFA, ETFE and ECTFE. Additionally, as sophisticated medical devices often require uniquely engineered coatings, we also offer polyimide (PI), polyamide (Nylon), polyurethane (PUR), polyether ether ketone (PEEK), polyester and epoxy coatings, and hybrid systems. Of course, we can customize coatings with additives, pigments, and extenders to optimize specific design and performance attributes.
GlideLine™ by Precision Coating
Customized Chemistries Applied with Exceptional Process Controls for Superior Outcomes
The GlideLine™ family of medical device coating finishes is the broadest offering of applied fluoropolymer (PTFE) coatings in the industry, customized to optimize the design, quality, and performance characteristics of your high-quality medical products. Importantly, once the material selection is made, Precision Coating offers exceptional process capability and control.
Process Capability and Control
As a high-volume coating applicator, Precision Coating ensures repeatability and reliability over the process in the following ways:
- Design of experiments (DOEs) are typically run to determine critical process input variables and optimize settings to meet desired process outputs.
- Critical process input variables (CPIV)—such as coating viscosity, flow rate, atomization, spray speed, and distance—are fixed and loaded by bar code scanning on process sheets.
- Our automated robotic coating systems are capable of PLC controlling all critical process input variables, and are capable of reliably depositing coatings with a USL of 0.0003” achieving a Ppk over 2.00.
- Precision Coating’s exceptional process controls provide consistent results for critical product attributes, such as coating deposition, surface morphology, adhesion, wear, and durability.
GlideLine™ coatings improve health outcomes through advanced and enhanced functionality and performance across a range of medical procedures, including, but not limited to:
Structural Heart • Cardiovascular • Cardiac Rhythm Management • Neurovascular • Neuromodulation • Peripheral Vascular • Urology • Electrosurgery • Endoscopy • Drug Delivery • Diagnostics
Specialty medical devices commonly coated include, but are not limited to:
Guidewires • Hypotubes • Core Wires • Coils • Pull Wires • Stylets • Mandrels • Electrosurgical Blades, Jaws, and End Effectors • Needles • Diagnostic Probes • Clinical Instruments
Helping you to accelerate your product technology development from inception to commercialization, our engineers customize the high-performance PTFE coating needed for your specific application.
Engineering the characteristics and benefits you want, design inputs often include:
- Coating thickness deposition
- Lubricity
- Release
- Dielectric Properties
- Low-cure Temperatures
- Color
- Aqueous chemistries
- Solvent chemistries
- Hydrophilic chemistries
- Various substrates: stainless steel, MP35N and other alloys, and nitinol
Engineering the characteristics and benefits you want, performance parameters can be achieved for:
- Exact and tight tolerances—Our deep expertise in robotic coating application guides us in determining a set of operating conditions to yield particular end results. This automation allows us exact deposition control that produces repeatable and consistent outcomes with tolerances of up to the 5th decimal point.
- Exceptional lubricity—The extremely low coefficient of friction profile of our fluoropolymer formulations creates optimal smooth and “slippery” characteristics of the final products. This slickness is what allow needles, hypotubes, guidewires, and such, to glide effortlessly during medical procedures.
- Easy release—Medical devices come into contact with various viscous and liquid substances. It is vital that these substances be released quickly from the surface area of PTFE coated medical devices and instruments, both to enhance unobstructed movement for surgeons and patient safety.
- Dielectric properties—As minimally invasive surgical procedure use more complex and electrically conductive technology, the need for protecting the patient and the process requires coatings on wires, devices, and instruments with insulating properties.
- Superior bondability—PTFE is not known for its adhesion, which means it needs secondary processes to ensure adhesion. Precision Coating’s proprietary surface preparation processes ensure a superior bond with your substrate.
- Low-cure temperatures—For PTFE to adhere to a substrate material, the substrate must be able to endure the required cure temperature. Our formulations are temperature resistant, allowing for low-cure temperatures, covering a wide variety of substrates.
- Aqueous chemistries—Known for exceptional release and non-stick performance, aqueous-based PFTE coatings are the best choice when this is a consideration.
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- Excellent low friction and release
- Target applications—mandrels and production formers and tooling
- Solvent chemistries—In difficult and tortuous path medical applications, a solvent coating may be best option, given the strong adhesive functional requirements.
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- Good low friction and release
- Target applications—guidewires and core wires and low-cure metals, such as nitinol
- Hydrophilic chemistries—These “water-loving” coatings are used in the medical industry to attract liquids and create a low surface friction, which allows for smooth and easy device performance and translates to less patient trauma with regards to skin and body tissues when using devices such as catheters, tubes, needles, and endoscopes. The customer can apply this hydrophilic coating themselves.
- Various substrates—The GlideLine™ family of coating products allows you a diverse range of substrate options: stainless steel, alloys, and more exotic materials, such as nitinol.
InfiNiTiCoat™ is our proprietary low-temp cure process, optimized for coating performance on nitinol devices. It is 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 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.
Reliable Supply Chain Partner
With segregated, automated production cells and both high-volume/low-mix and low-volume/high-mix process lines for fluoropolymer coating in facilities in Massachusetts and Costa Rica, Precision Coating is a reliable supply-chain partner equipped to deliver best-in-class outcomes, including:
Reliable, cost-effective quality in every facet of the medical coating process, from consistency of medical coating deposition to the timely, trouble-free delivery of finished products.
Precision Coating’s trusted reputation for coating application services is built on a foundation of hundreds of coating formulations and a portfolio of over 3,500+ unique medical components, products, and devices coated across a wide range of medical coating specialties and form factors.
