• Published February 17th, 2020

Fort Wayne Metals has developed a composite wire technology with integrated proximal-to-tip guidewire performance in mind. One critical area in medical device practice is in vascular access guidewires. Many workhorse guidewires, 0.3302 mm to 0.3556 mm [0.013 in to 0.014 in], use a stiff material body (often stainless steel or CoNiCr) for control and a superelastic Nitinol tip for flexible navigation. The combination of properties for these hybrid wires is often used for effective navigation to areas of the heart, brain, and vessels of appendages.

The joining of stiff materials to superelastic materials (such as Nitinol) is a tricky and often expensive art requiring robust mastery. Fort Wayne Metals has developed a new wire material technology balancing the stiffness properties needed for proximal control with superelastic distal performance in an integrated composite. The 35N LT®-DFT®-NiTi wire utilizes a high strength CoNiCr shell over a superelastic Nitinol core that can be tuned in size for tip exposure during profile core grinding. Read up further on our composite technology produced with guidewire performance in mind here:

• CoNiCr-Nitinol Composite Wire for Guidewire-Type Applications

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Disclaimer: Our monthly highlights are sneak peeks of what our R & D department is working on. This does not mean we have what is referenced above ready for manufacturing.