Catheter Components – Zeus manufactures nearly all of the components necessary for catheter design and construction, from support mandrels, liners, reinforcement, jacketing material, and fusing sleeves. Our components allow catheters to retain the preferred qualities such as torquability, distal end deflectability, pushability, and kink resistance.

Implantable Vascular (Prosthetic) Grafts – When blood vessels become damaged or occluded, replacing or bypassing them may become necessary. Vascular prosthetics have now become an option when harvesting patient blood vessels is not possible. Zeus makes implantable devices that are both biocompatible and provide extreme lubriciousness.

Introducer Sheaths – These devices provide the means for getting your intervention where it is needed. For catheter and instrument introduction, our sheath construction components (including peel-away heat shrink and conventional tubing) provide lubricity and flexibility and can be combined with value-added services such as radiopaque additives, drawdowns, and tapering.

Stent Encapsulation – Zeus provides cutting-edge and highly customizable technologies as cover materials for a broad range of stent graft types and geometries.

Wound Closure / Sutures – Zeus offers monofilament and drawn fiber products that can be tailored to varied wound closure types. Our Aeos™ ePTFE suture monofilament, as an example, can be swaged onto needles up to a 1:1 ratio and is available in bulk to create your own suture lines. These high-tensile Aeos™ ePTFE products are breathable and provide excellent scaffolding material for tissue growth and faster recoveries.

Catheter Liners – Typically made of PTFE that has been chemically etched to allow for bonding, these inner liners of catheters provide the utmost in lubricity, electrical performance, chemical resistance, and are sterilizable via multiple methods.

Customized Tubing – We offer a wide range of fluoropolymers and specialized plastics with a history of success in medical device applications. Depending on your needs, we can provide custom etching, flaring, tipping, and prototype sampling with quick turnaround and complete technical support.

Fusing Sleeves – Heat shrinkable fluoropolymer tubing provides an excellent way to reflow the underlying nylon or Pebax® jacketing material during catheter construction. We offer FEP heat shrink tubing and FluoroPEELZ™ peelable heat shrink as fusing sleeves, both of which can withstand high temperatures and contribute to a smooth surface finish for the completed device.

Jacketing – Catheter jackets are designed to provide additional structural support and flexibility through different durometers along the length of the catheter. Zeus offers a variety of nylon and Pebax® jacketing to meet these catheter construction needs.

Membranes – Our Aeos™ ePTFE is composed of a number of solid nodes that are interconnected by a matrix of very thin fibrils. Manipulation of these nodes creates a porous and breathable material with unique physical properties suitable for implantation.

Multi-lumen Tubing – This tubing creates multiple passages through which several simultaneous treatments or instruments can be directed toward the treatment site. Available in a variety of resins, these products are made with tight tolerances, unsurpassed capabilities, and superior quality standards.

Catheter Braiding – When metals cannot be used in certain catheterization procedures, Zeus offers drawn fibers and monofilaments available in PEEK and LCP as non-metallic and flexible alternatives to stainless steel braiding. These materials are MRI-compatible and available in flat and rounded profiles.

Processing / Support Mandrels – A building block for catheter construction, this polymer core provides the central arbor around which the catheter is made and supports the desired ID. After construction, the mandrel is removed to produce the final ID. Our catheter components are highly lubricious and are ideal for use as mandrels with easy removal; these are available in PEEK and PTFE.

Biomaterials – The emergence of biomaterials, substances or materials that can exist in the body, has become a driving force in medical innovation. Bioabsorbables are especially suitable for medical applications and provide an alternative to traditional polymers and metal components because they can be absorbed by the body. Recognizing this industry need, Zeus has expanded our capabilities in multiple areas to develop the most advanced biomaterials in the industry.

ETFE – A copolymer of ethylene and tetrafluoroethylene, ETFE tubing affords excellent resistance to impact, abrasion, and stress cracking. ETFE possesses superior toughness, stiffness, and durability, all while being chemically inert. The material can be extruded in multiple forms, including flexible convoluted tubing.

FEP – Fluorinated ethylene propylene, or FEP, is a melt-processable fluoropolymer that allows for long, continuous lengths and has several distinct advantages over PTFE. FEP is a preferred choice when optical clarity is vital while still maintaining flexibility. In heat shrinkable form, FEP has a lower recovery temperature than PTFE, and FEP can be used to reflow softer underlying materials such as Pebax® for catheter jackets. This chemically inert material has low gas permeability and possesses an excellent UV transmission rating and dielectric strength. FEP is also gamma, ETO, e-beam, and autoclave sterilizable.

LCP – Liquid crystal polymers, or LCPs, are thermoplastic resins that exhibit unique properties. These materials have a host of desirable traits, including exceptional mechanical strength, heat tolerance for autoclaving, and chemical inertness. Through Zeus’ proprietary processing, we have developed an LCP monofilament fiber for use as catheter braiding. This material possesses excellent tensile strength and surpasses many similar monofilaments, such as nylon, polyethylene naphthalate (PEN), and even polyether ether ketone (PEEK) in terms of stiffness. Most importantly, however, LCP monofilament used as catheter braiding results in a device that is fully compatible with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) procedures.

PEEK – Polyether ether ketone (PEEK) is a high-performance polymer that has excellent heat endurance and one of the highest strength-to-weight ratios of any thermoplastic. PEEK products are used in a variety of medical applications due to their columnar stiffness and torsional strength in very thin walls. PEEK tubing can be sourced with ID’s as small as 0.002″ (0.051 mm) and nominal wall thicknesses as low as 0.0015″ (0.0381 mm). PEEK drawn fiber is an alternative option for braiding in catheters where metal may not be preferable. PEEK is lightweight and is able to withstand operating temperatures of 500 ºF (260 ºC). PEEK tolerates high burst pressures and possesses exceptional torsion stability. PEEK is also thermoformable and resistant to gamma radiation, wear, and impact.

Pebax® – This material (also known as PEBA, or polyether block amide) is often used as a jacketing material for catheters, providing structural support and strength while also allowing catheters to remain flexible. Pebax® is a versatile polymer whose properties can be easily altered by varying its monomeric ratios and block types, thus imparting a wide range of mechanical properties such as flexibility. This material possesses high elastic memory and is stronger than nylon 11. Pebax® is available in Shore D hardness ranges from 35 to 72.

PFA – Perfluoroalkoxy, or PFA, possesses excellent lubricity, clarity, and chemical resistance, making it highly versatile; it can be manufactured in a variety of extruded products, including custom sizes, profiles, and multi-lumens. PFA is highly flexible, chemically resistant to all common solvents, possesses low gas permeability, and has ultra-low levels of ionic extractables. PFA retains its mechanical strength even at temperatures up to 500 °F (260 °C). PFA is highly flame-resistant and can tolerate ETO, e-beam, and autoclave sterilizations, making it well-suited to medical applications.

PTFE – Polytetrafluoroethylene, or PTFE, is highly lubricious and is the preferred material in many applications in the medical field. This material has the lowest coefficient of friction of any polymer and easily tolerates ETO and autoclave sterilizations. PTFE has a working temperature up to 500 °F (260 °C) and can be produced with precision tolerances. This diverse polymer is available in a variety of forms, including tubing, special profiles, heat shrink, monofilaments, and multi-lumens.