Biaxial stretching of polytetrafluoroethylene in industrial scale to fabricate medical ePTFE membrane with node-fibril microstructure.

ABSTRACT: Expanded polytetrafluoroethylene (ePTFE) is promising in biomedical fields such as covered stents and plastic surgery owing to its excellent biocompatibility and mechanical properties. However, ePTFE material prepared by the traditional biaxial stretching process is with thicker middle and thinner sides due to the bowing effect, which poses a major problem in industrial-scale fabrication. To solve this problem, we design an olive-shaped winding roller to provide the middle part of the ePTFE tape with a greater longitudinal stretching amplitude than the two sides, so as to make up for the excessive longitudinal retraction tendency of the middle part when it is transversely stretched. The as-fabricated ePTFE membrane has, as designed, uniform thickness and node-fibril microstructure. In addi

SUBMITTER: Wang G 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10310521 | biostudies-literature | 2023

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature