Stranded and cabled wire constructions are used in a wide range of medical devices, from guidewires and pacing leads to orthopaedic cables and atherectomy drive shafts. While strands and cables may appear similar, their geometry directly influences how they perform under bending, tension, and torsion, allowing engineers to tailor designs to specific application requirements.

Selecting the right construction starts with defining the device's needs, including breakload, maximum outside diameter, flexibility, and material requirements. Different strand and cable architectures create unique trade-offs, while material options such as stainless steel, Nitinol, cobalt-chromium alloys, titanium, and DFT® wire offer additional opportunities to optimize performance.

Beyond construction and alloy selection, secondary processes such as rotary swaging can further refine mechanical properties by increasing strength, altering flexibility, and improving surface characteristics. By treating strand and cable configuration as an engineering variable rather than a commodity component, manufacturers can better optimize device performance for demanding medical applications.

Categories: Materials Science