Custom Extrusions
Medical device and biopharma companies face increasingly complex requirements for custom tubing—demanding tight dimensional tolerances, specialized material properties, and consistent quality in high-volume production. These challenges can delay innovation, drive up costs, or even jeopardize an entire project.
At Freudenberg Medical, we specialize in high-precision extrusions engineered for your specific application—whether it’s high performance sheaths for minimally invasive catheters, insulation for implantable devices like pacemakers, or fluid path solutions for critical biopharma processes. With deep materials expertise in silicones, thermoplastics, and PEEK, and state-of-the-art extrusion technologies, we help you accelerate development, ensure consistency, and scale with confidence.
Control Inputs and Outputs
Producing high-quality extrusions for advanced catheter systems and biopharma applications depends heavily on controlling key "inputs," starting with skilled people who influence factors like training, materials, storage, and equipment. Tight control over these inputs increases the likelihood of achieving desired "outputs," such as process stability and meeting customer specifications.
With customer demands pushing the limits of extrusion capabilities, precise control of both inputs and processes is more critical than ever.
Polymer Science & Material Behavior
A strong grasp of polymer science is essential for producing high-quality catheters and balloons, as thermal conditions affect the polymer’s structure and its key properties like strength and flexibility. Controlling cooling during extrusion is critical. Some applications, like balloon forming, require amorphous tubing, while others, like PEEK tubing, require high crystallinity.
Achieving consistent, high-quality balloon tubing depends on precise control of all extrusion inputs, a capable melt process, and advanced in-line monitoring. Even small process variations can negatively impact melt uniformity and final product performance.
Our Extrusion capabilities
Thermoplastic Tubing
for medical & biopharma
We offer a comprehensive range of thermoplastic extrusion capabilities, supporting complex medical tubing designs with exceptional precision. Working with materials such as PEEK, Pebax, polyurethane, nylon, and polycarbonate, Freudenberg manufactures tubing with inner diameters as small as 0.2 mm and outer diameters up to 20 mm, with tight tolerances down to ±0.0065 mm.
Capabilities include single- and multi-lumen extrusion, co-extrusion, multi-layer tubing, bump/taper profiles, balloon tubing, and braided or coil-reinforced shafts. Advanced striping options support x-ray visibility and part identification. Combined with cleanroom manufacturing and automated equipment, Freudenberg ensures high-performance, customized thermoplastic tubing for a wide range of medical applications.
Braided & Coiled Tubing
for minimally invasive catheters
We specialize in custom braided and coiled tubing for minimally invasive catheter systems, offering reinforced shaft solutions that enhance torque, flexibility, and kink resistance. Leveraging decades of braiding expertise and advanced automation, Freudenberg provides tailored sub-assemblies or full outsourcing solutions for complex catheter designs, including braid-on-coil configurations, variable pitch coiling, multi-lumen shafts, and stepped diameters.
The tubing can be customized with flat or round stainless steel wire and monofilaments to meet precise performance needs. Applications include delivery and guiding catheters, steering mechanisms, high-pressure tubing, kink-resistant sheaths, and stent delivery systems.
Tri-Layer Tubing
for demanding medical applications
Combining three discrete material layers into a single-lumen extrusion, offering a tailored performance for demanding medical applications. With material options including Pebax®, polyamide, polyurethane, EFEP, and custom blends, tri-layer tubing enables enhanced functionality such as lubricious inner and outer surfaces, improved burst and tensile strength, and optimized elongation control.
The structure also supports encapsulation of non-medical ingredients and bonding of otherwise incompatible materials using specialized tie layers. Available in outer diameters from 0.4 mm to 4 mm with typical tolerances of ±0.015 mm, Freudenberg also offers tri-layer bump tubing for variable ID/OD profiles. Comprehensive in-house testing ensures high quality and reliability.
Micro Extrusions
for next-generation medical devices
Freudenberg Medical offers advanced micro-extrusion capabilities through our HelixMicro™ platform, delivering ultra-small, high-precision tubing solutions for next-generation medical devices. Specializing in both silicones and thermoplastics, we manufacture implantable-grade tubing with inner diameters as small as 0.1778 mm (0.007") and wall thicknesses down to 0.0508 mm (0.002").
These micro extrusions support applications such as implantable devices, drainage catheters, and specialty delivery systems. Additional capabilities include multi-lumen and co-extrusion, as well as striping for x-ray opacity or identification. Built on a vertically integrated model, Freudenberg’s micro extrusion services are enhanced by automated in-process inspection and cleanroom production environments, ensuring repeatability, quality, and tight tolerances across all product runs.
High Pressure Tubing
for high pressure environments
An advanced extrusion solution designed to support the transmission of contrast media under high pressure within the vascular system, contributing to improved clinical outcomes.
This polyurethane tubing, reinforced with polymer monofilament, offers a constant working pressure of 1200 psi and burst pressure exceeding 1800 psi. Known for its high flexibility, clarity, and excellent decay resistance, it can also be sterilized using ETO. Custom sizing is available, and the tubing can be provided either on spools, in cut lengths, or as finished assemblies with UV solvent-bonded connectors, depending on project needs.
PEEK tubing
for medical & biopharma
Freudenberg Medical provides PEEK tubing renowned for its high-pressure resistance, often replacing stainless steel. Its high purity reduces extractables, making it suitable for trace analysis of complex fluids. The tubing endures high radiation doses without embrittlement, maintaining strength in demanding conditions. It offers excellent chemical and abrasion resistance, stability up to 228°C, and flame retardancy.
Available in coils, spools, or straight lengths, PEEK tubing comes translucent or opaque, with options like variable wall thickness, multi-layer construction, stainless steel reinforcement, and custom shapes. Finished tubing assemblies with connectors are also available to meet specific needs.
Multi-Lumen Tubing
for medical & biopharma
We collaborate with customers to develop and manufacture custom multi-lumen tubing tailored to specific application requirements, including geometry, materials, and lumen performance.
All extrusion tooling is designed in-house by an experienced team, ensuring precision and confidentiality. Often used in demanding, space-constrained applications like minimally invasive surgery, this tubing enables multiple functions or instruments to operate through a single device. With virtually unlimited configuration possibilities, Freudenberg Medical helps customers achieve optimal flow rates and performance, delivering solutions that are both highly functional and precisely aligned with clinical and engineering needs.
HelixTwist™
for demanding medical applications
Optimal for pacemakers, breathing tubes, and other medical applications which require navigation through tortuous pathways within the human body. HelixTwist™ multi-lumen silicone tubing technology is designed with increased torqueability and kink resistance to prevent blocked lumens. A micro-extrusion made of implant-grade silicone material, the innovative twisted lumen tubing design provides an equal balance of stress across the inner and outer lumens as it bends.
HelixTwist™ tubing can be customized to meet your needs including tube design, amount of lumen, and helix structure. Additionally, all critical tubing dimensions can be measured and documented as an in-line process with our innovative Helix iMC™ technology.
Peristaltic pump tubing
for demanding pharmaceutical pump applications
High-performance peristaltic pump tubing designed for the biopharmaceutical industry, available in both high-purity silicone and biologically compatible TPE. Manufactured in certified cleanrooms in the U.S., Germany, and Ireland, the tubing is produced under a global redundancy program to support supply chain security.
Silicone offerings include PharmaFocus® Premium and HelixMark® tubing, known for exceptional strength, volumetric consistency, and extended wear in demanding pump applications. These products meet USP Class VI standards and have extractables tested to BPOG and USP 665. The HelixFlex™ TPE line provides added flexibility with weldable, sealable, and sterilizable properties, ideal for modern single-use systems. Common sizes are available off-the-shelf.
ASTC UV-Shield Tubing
for the safe transfer of photosensitive fluids
Our ASTC UV-Shield Tubing is specifically engineered for the safe transfer of photosensitive drugs and light-sensitive fluids. Part of the PharmaFocus® Premium product line, this custom silicone extrusion features an opaque outer layer that effectively blocks UV and visible light without contacting the fluid path. Available in 50 or 65 Shore A, the tubing is tailored to customer specifications for ID/OD sizing and packaging.
Ideal for bioprocessing, drug delivery, IVD systems, dialysis, pharmaceutical filling, and parenteral nutrition, ASTC UV-Shield Tubing offers reliable protection for critical fluids in demanding medical and pharmaceutical applications.
Color Stripe Tubing
to identify tubing lines in biopharma production
Freudenberg Medical’s HelixMark® Color Stripe Silicone Tubing offers an easy, reliable way to identify tubing lines by application, size, or functional area.
Available with red, green, or white striping, with additional options for non-striped or custom colors, this tubing enables users to create clear and customizable identification systems. Made from high-quality silicone with a typical hardness of 55 Shore A, it is ideal for complex fluid management environments requiring visual differentiation and organization.
Discover our Product Solutions:
a Central Process in Catheter Development
The extrusion and catheter finishing processes are inextricably linked and balancing these processes can be a complex undertaking.
There are a number of variables that can ultimately affect the performance of a finished catheter, the most paramount are the properties of the raw material and the extrusion process. Careful consideration of the extrusion process is essential to ensure consistency and repeatability. Including extrusion engineers in the development decision making process is integral and collaborative communication between customer and supplier will enhance concept development and ultimately get devices to market faster.
It is important to keep in mind that there is far more to tubing than dimensions. Establishing a "see it, say it, fix it together" culture is key to getting a tube from concept to production.
Trusted Partner for Custom Extrusions
Our dedicated Center of Excellence in Carrick-on-Shannon, Ireland is at the core of custom extrusion, allowing us to deliver tight tolerances and complex geometries at scale.
CARRICK-ON-SHANNON
Rely on our Extrusion Capabilities
From complex single-lumen to multi-lumen tubing
Silicones, thermoplastics including TPEs, and more
Specialty tubing for catheters and delivery systems
HelixMark® off-the-shelf silicone tubing for medical device and lab applications
HelixTwist™ multi-lumen silicone tubing designed to prevent kinks or blocked lumens
All extrusion processed in ISO Class 8 cleanrooms; most facilities FDA registered
Customer Success Stories
Rethinking Recovery in Colorectal Care
ColoSeal™ is a nonsurgical intraluminal diversion system designed to protect the healing colon and eliminate the need for a second operation. This breakthrough concept required not only visionary thinking but also expert technical execution, especially in complex, ultra-thin, multi-lumen tubing.
