Confluent Medical is proud to offer filmcast tubing technology to support our complex catheter offerings or to supply product directly to customers. Our product offerings include lubricious PTFE coated liners (supplied on silver plated copper mandrel), polyimide tubing, or composite tubing configurations with or without braid reinforcement. The process caters to extremely thin wall thicknesses and tight tolerances which make it a great option for high performance medical tubing applications.

  1. Core mandrel – The filmcast process is a spool-to-spool layering process of a liquid polymer over an internally drawn wire sized to dictate the tubing ID.
  2. Liners – Filmcast PTFE is a great option when lubricity, thin walls, and flexibility are paramount. Material is etched to promote lamination and very thin tie layers can be added to enhance adhesion. Polyimide is a great option when strength, durability, or electrical insulations is a key consideration
  3. Braid Reinforcement – Braiding can change the performance characteristics depending on the response being optimized (ex: flexibility). We stock a variety of different geometries and sizes, and can utilize simulation software to optimize the pic count for the desired characteristics.
  4. Outerjacket – We offer a variety of materials and durometers from the Pebax, Nylon, and thermoplastic polyurethane families.


Lubricious, etched PTFE liners

  • Liner of choice when lubricity, thin-walls, and flexibility are the key design considerations.
  • Can be combined with tie layers to promote better lamination
  • Sizes from 0.010″-0.137″ with wall thicknesses form 0.0005″ – 0.002″ (size dependent)
  • Recently expanded mandrel range from 0.137″ to 0.155″ and accepting prototype quantity orders for customer evaluation
  • Supplied on a silver plated copper core mandrel for an intimate fit, i.e, no oversleeving or stretching required
  • Core mandrel can be leveraged during catheter construction (braiding/coiling and outerjacket reflow lamination) and removed at the end of the process to reveal finished catheter shaft.
  • 3-4 week lead time

Polyimide Tubing

  • Thermoset so will not melt
  • Exceptional column strength
  • Excellent dielectric properties
  • Sizes from 0.010” – 0.120”. Wall thicknesses from 0.0005” – 0.005” (dependent on ID). Walls can be increased further up to 0.008” at 5Fr and higher IDs
  • 2 week lead time

Dev July 19, 2021