Melt pumps help medical thin-walled tube production improve efficiency and quality

Medical thin-walled tubes (e.g. medical catheters, infusion tubes, tubes for vascular interventional devices, etc.) have extremely high requirements for dimensional accuracy, surface quality, material homogeneity and biocompatibility. As the core component of the extrusion molding system, melt pumps play a key role in the production of medical thin-walled tubes, and their advantages are mainly reflected in the following aspects:

High-precision metering and uniformity control

1、Accurate flow control

The melt pump realizes the quantitative delivery of polymer melt through the gear meshing gap or screw structure, and the metering accuracy can reach within ±0.5%. This is critical for medical thin-walled pipe wall thickness uniformity (tolerance requirements are usually ≤ ± 5%), to avoid uneven pipe thickness, eccentricity and other defects caused by flow fluctuations.

2、Stable pressure output

The melt pump can establish a stable pressure field during the extrusion process, eliminating the pressure pulses generated by the extruder screw rotation and avoiding problems such as pipe surface roughness, air bubbles or fracture caused by pressure fluctuations, especially suitable for processing heat-sensitive materials (such as medical grade PVC, silicone, polyurethane).

Material compatibility and process optimization

1、Wide range of material compatibility

Melt pump can handle high viscosity, low fluidity of medical grade polymers (such as medical grade PEBAX, PTFE, silicone rubber), by adjusting the rotational speed to match the rheological properties of different materials, to ensure that the melt is uniformly plastified at a low shear rate, reducing the risk of material degradation.

2、Low shear stress

Adopting large gear diameter, low speed operation and special tooth shape design (such as involute tooth shape, asymmetric tooth shape), it reduces the shear stress of the melt in the pump and protects the molecular chain structure of the material, which is especially suitable for the production of biodegradable materials (such as PLA, PGA) and composite pipes containing functional additives (such as drug coatings, anti-coagulants).

Production efficiency and stability enhancement

1、Efficient pressurization and extrusion rate optimization

The melt pump can boost the low pressure melt output from the extruder to 10-30MPa, to meet the demand for high-speed extrusion of thin-walled pipes (such as pipe haul-off speed up to 10-20m/min), and at the same time through the stabilization of the flow field to reduce the melt retention time, reduce the frequency of stopping for cleaning, and improve the efficiency of continuous production.

2、Multi-channel synchronized control

Some melt pumps support multi-inlet/multi-outlet design, which can realize accurate layered metering of multi-layer composite pipes (e.g. three-layer co-extruded conduit), ensure the stable ratio of the thickness of each layer of the material, and avoid inter-layer mixing or bias flow.

Health compliance and easy cleaning

1、Medical grade material and surface treatment

The pump body is made of 316L stainless steel or Hastelloy, and the inner wall is mirror-polished (roughness Ra≤0.8μm), with no dead corners and corrosion resistance, avoiding the risk of material contamination.

2、Quick disassembly and online cleaning (CIP)

Modular structure design supports quick disassembly and assembly, with online cleaning system (e.g. solvent circulation rinsing), it can significantly shorten the time of material change or downtime cleaning, to meet the frequent hygiene requirements in the production of medical products.

Medical thin-walled tube extruder melt pumps significantly improve medical products production through high precision metering, stable pressure, low shear damage, hygienic compliance and other core advantages. These core advantages significantly improve the quality consistency and production efficiency of medical tubing, especially for high-end precision medical devices. As the medical industry's performance requirements for tubing continue to improve, the melt pump's intelligent (e.g., integrated pressure sensors, closed-loop speed control) and modular design will become a key direction for future development, further promoting the upgrading of the medical extrusion process.

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