Coefficient of Friction of Plastic Medical Tubes

Coefficient of Friction of Plastic Medical Tubes

INTRO

Plastic is highly used within the medical industry. Its use within the industry ranges from containers and syringes to medical tubing such as catheters. Catheters are inserted into a body cavity or vessel and are used to allow drainage, fluid injections or to allow the insertion of medical devices. The flexibility of plastic allows the medical industry to make various important and different uses of it. The quality of the plastic has to be considered for the various types of uses and forms it will take.

IMPORTANCE OF COFFICIENT OF FRICTION FOR QUALITY CONTROL

A major concern for plastic used within the medical industry is the Coefficient of Friction (COF) value. Since plastic tubing is used for inserting medical or surgical devices into the body, the frictional value must be as low as possible in order to allow for a smooth travel into its destination. Also, in cases where medical devices, such as stents, are inserted in the body through a plastic tube, the COF value must be low in order to avoid removing any of the medicine that often stents are coated with.

MEASUREMENT OBJECTIVE

In this application, Labthink MXD-02 Coefficient of Friction tester (see below) is used to measure the coefficient of Friction of the surface of plastic tubes. It is equipped with standard sled complying with ASTM D1894 and ISO 8295. Also it can be used to test the coefficient of friction between plastic tubes and any materials which can be stuck on the sled.

This instrument is controlled by computer, all the result can be Linear chart or digital display with the professional software. The equipment has a high accuracy with 0.5% of reading.