In the field of medical devices, the use of precision medical stainless steel tubing is quite widespread. Whether in commonly used medical instruments in hospitals or home care equipment, you can see its presence. However, many people do not know much about it, only knowing that it is used in the medical field. Let's learn a little about precision medical stainless steel tubing.
Compared with other stainless steel tubes, precision medical-grade stainless steel tubing has more stringent requirements. The size specifications are usually controlled between 0.25~0.3mm, and the wall thickness is controlled between 0.08~0.2mm. The tolerance is guaranteed within 0.01mm, and the inner wall is smooth. The surface is mostly polished. The material usually uses 304, 316, 316L stainless steel. It has good flexibility, corrosion resistance, high temperature resistance, wear resistance, tensile resistance, waterproofing, and provides excellent electromagnetic shielding performance.
For example, stainless steel stethoscope three-way valves, elbow crutches, etc., require precision medical stainless steel tubing to be bent, so the stainless steel bending process requires high resilience and extensibility of the material. 304 precision stainless steel tubing is a bit softer than 201, and has good toughness and ductility, making it less prone to breakage and convenient for bending and other processes. For example, some parts of nursing beds need to be welded to tubes, 316 medical precision stainless steel tubing has good welding performance and can be welded using standard welding methods. However, in order to obtain good corrosion resistance, the welded section of the 316 stainless steel tubing needs to be annealed after welding. If 316L stainless steel tubing is used, annealing after welding is not necessary.
The relevant standards specify the corrosion resistance test methods for martensitic and austenitic stainless steel medical instruments and dental handheld instruments. It is applicable to martensitic stainless steel medical instruments (such as scissors, pliers, tweezers, etc.) and austenitic stainless steel medical instruments (such as injection needles, acupuncture needles, stainless steel intrauterine devices, dental stainless steel wires, etc.), and also applicable to materials for manufacturing austenitic stainless steel medical instruments.
The standard specifies the size, surface, and mechanical properties of precision medical stainless steel tubing with normal wall, thin wall, and ultra-thin wall with metric specifications of 0.2mm-3.4mm and 0.6mm-2.1mm respectively. The standard is applicable to hard straight stainless steel needle tubes used for injecting under the skin, subcutaneously, into the muscle, and veins of the human body and other medical devices. The standard is not applicable to flexible stainless steel needle tubes, as their mechanical properties are different from rigid stainless steel needle tubes specified in this standard, but manufacturers and buyers of flexible needle tubes are encouraged to select the size specified in this standard.
