Method for making a tubular product, especially a catheter, and article made thereby

Abstract From the Canadian patent

A process for making a reinforced tubular product, especially a catheter, in a single extrusion step. A reinforcing member is applied to an extruded thermoplastic catheter body of about its finished size which is softened by heating while tensioning the reinforcing member to control the surface deformation or penetration of the catheter wall by the reinforcing member to produce an irregular surface contour on the catheter body. The catheter body is then smoothed in a sizing die burying the reinforcement to form the finished product. The heating step may be in addition to or substituted by a curing step when a thermosetting or cross-linking material is used for the body. The reinforcement …