1.0 – Purpose:
This memo will introduce Confluent Medical’s new REACH compliant, High-Modulus Polyimide: Ultra Polyimide.

2.0 – Overall Benefits of Polyimide:
Polyimide is a preferred material for devices where exceptional column and/or tensile strength are required. It can be manufactured as a discrete tube or built into a composite construction. Polyimide also has excellent dielectric properties and thermal resistance, and is resistant to a wide range of chemicals. 

3.0 – Design Pressures and Restrictions
As medical device designs continue to evolve, there is constant design pressure to decrease wall thickness without sacrificing device performance. For instance, polyimide is often utilized for guidewire lumens, where maximizing the inner diameter of the lumen increases the clearance for the guidewire. Conversely, other applications benefit from a reduction in the outer diameter while maintaining the existing inner diameter. In both cases, stronger materials allow for more options to conquer the design hurdles associated with the ongoing march toward thinner designs.  

4.0 – An Innovative Solution:
Confluent Medical is proud to offer a higher-modulus polyimide that is manufactured without the use of any REACH and/or EU MDR restricted solvents and is almost 100% stronger than standard polyimide while still retaining the positive attributes of standard polyimide as noted in Section 2.0. Ultra Polyimide will allow design teams to reduce the amount of material needed in new medical devices to provide the same column and/or tensile strength required for the application.  Therefore, this advancement will offer design teams greater flexibility to address other design constraints by freeing additional cross-sectional areas within the device. 

To receive a quotation or more information, please reach out to [email protected].