TPi March 2014

Small diameter, high precision tubes

a cutting-edge medical device is not the sole application for small-diameter high-precision tubes, but it provides the most compelling proof of their excellence. a trocar which introduces the instruments of laparoscopic surgery into the body allows little margin for error – still less for failure. and, as the tubing component of the device evolves from the delivery system into the instrumentation itself, the reliability demands placed on the tube will only intensify. From the analogue meter pointers of the mid-1960s to the most sensitive heat-exchange products of the present, the remarkable tubing reviewed here has fulfilled exacting requirements as to concentricity and wall thickness, shape memory and elasticity. now, as always, the experience and integrity on offer in a state-of-the art tubemaking operation provide assurance that the even more stringent requirements of the future will be met, as well.