Coated Wire & Coated Guidewires

Coated wire and coated guidewires for medical devices

MicroSpec coats wire in both continuous and discrete lengths, from coated guidewires to stylets and wire jackets. We coat solid core nitinol guidewires, and we hold a patent for a method and apparatus for producing steerable coated guidewires with a variable OD and uniform coating.

Coated wire is a natural extension of our micro-extrusion work. In 1993 we extruded our first coated wire: a 12-micron thick coating on a 50-micron wire, for a finished outside diameter of only 75 microns, or 0.003 inch.

Coating over a variable diameter

Many guidewires and stylets have a core that tapers or changes diameter along its length. Coating a tapered core evenly is difficult, because the coating wants to follow the shape of the wire. In 1990 Tim Steele developed a process that maintains a constant outside diameter for the plastic jacket, and in 1997 a process for a constant jacket OD over a guidewire with a variable core diameter. In 2002 he received patent 6,371,929 for producing steerable coated guidewires with a variable OD and uniform coating.

What we coat

• Solid core nitinol guidewires
• Stainless steel and other metal wire
• Continuous lengths on spools and discrete cut lengths
• Wires with tapered or variable core diameters
• Thin, uniform polymer jackets in a range of medical resins

Over extrusion

Coated wire is one form of over extrusion, where polymer is extruded over an existing component. We also over extrude onto other cores and assemblies, and can combine a jacket with features such as non-round profiles. Tell us what the core is, how it is supplied and what the jacket needs to do, and we will tell you whether over extrusion is the right approach.

Our founder, Tim Steele, holds a patent for producing steerable coated guidewires and was one of the first to experiment with bump and PICC tubing, so coating has been part of MicroSpec since the beginning.