Braided wire: Balancing size and strength to optimize medical device performance
Braided wire is the structural foundation of many catheter, sheath, and robotic device designs, but maximizing performance requires careful trade-offs. This technical blog, based on a recent webinar, explores how wire condition, tensile properties, flat versus round geometries, spooling practices, and surface finishes influence the capabilities of your devices.
The webinar highlights several recent developments aimed at helping medical device manufacturers address the growing demand for smaller, stronger, and more reliable devices. The presentation covers stainless steel round wire, ultra-strength material offerings, multi-end spooling capabilities, flat wire products, and advanced surface finish options. With capabilities ranging from 0.0127 mm to 13.97 mm [0.0005 in to 0.55 in] diameter wire, Fort Wayne Metals continues to support applications across guidewires, braids, catheters, strands, cables, and other critical medical device components.
A major focus of the webinar is the development of ultra-strength materials, including both 304V stainless steel and tungsten. These materials were created to help customers maintain mechanical performance as devices continue to shrink. Ultra-strength 304V can achieve tensile strengths approaching 500 ksi while maintaining useful ductility, offering potential benefits for catheter reinforcement, guidewires, springs, braids, and cable constructions. Ultra-strength tungsten delivers even higher performance, reaching tensile strengths above 800 ksi and approaching 1 million psi in certain ultrafine diameters. These enhanced properties can help improve stiffness, wear resistance, fatigue performance, and resistance to deformation in demanding applications such as surgical robotics, catheter systems, and chronic total occlusion guidewires.
The webinar also explores manufacturing and processing capabilities that support advanced devices. Multi-end spooling allows up to nine wire ends to be wound onto a single braider bobbin, helping improve braiding efficiency while reducing downtime. Additionally, Fort Wayne Metals highlights its flat wire portfolio, including both rolled and drawn flat wire options, along with multiple surface finishes designed to support specific performance requirements.
Bright, semi-bright, rough-rolled, hybrid, and wet-blasted surfaces can help optimize coating adhesion, braiding performance, handling characteristics, and manufacturability. Together, these capabilities demonstrate Fort Wayne Metals’ commitment to providing not only raw materials, but also engineered wire solutions that help customers improve device performance, streamline manufacturing, and support next-generation medical device innovation.
Check out the full webinar here. Reach out to our technical team to explore the material options that can advance performance in your applications.
Categories: Medical Device Innovation, Medical device materials
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