New England Tubing’s assembly abilities coupled with our comprehensive extrusion capabilities enable the delivery of reinforced multi-durometer custom products. Producing tubes with multi-durometer sections and the addition of stainless steel braids or spiral reinforcements allows for varied kink resistance, flexibility and torque response over the length of one piece. The proximal section of the tube can be made of a harder plastic to help with insertion and positioning, while a more flexible distal section will allow the tube to better navigate challenging paths within the human anatomy. This innovative process accompanied with braid reinforcement can produce a tube that has a stiff body section and a more flexible distal section while still maintaining important physical characteristics like torque transmission, kink resistance, and hoop strength.
Custom multi-durometer tubing can be designed in single or multi-lumen styles, with or without reinforcement. For multi-lumen constructions, lumen patency is critical and always maintained. Reinforced constructions typically have a continuous liner, continuous reinforcement, and then the varying durometer occurs on the outer most layer of the tube. Combining multi-durometer feature with varying braid or spiral density can alter flexibility over the length of the shaft even further. Longitudinal members can also be added to increase tensile and column strength.
Learn more about multi-durometer tubing and other available value added enhancements for your tube in this video.
