Guidewire with varying properties
AssigneeAbbott Cardiovascular Systems Inc.
InventorsMatthew James Chludzinski, John Arthur Simpson
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A method of making a core metal element for a medical guidewire including providing a wire of nickel titanium alloy having a length that includes a proximal portion having a first diameter and a distal portion having a second diameter. The method further includes applying cold work to the distal portion and not applying cold work to the proximal portion, thereby imparting to the distal portion a third diameter that is smaller than the second diameter; and then applying a reducing process to the wire whereby the proximal portion is reduced to have a fourth diameter that is less than the first diameter.
Claims9
A method of making a medical guidewire core element comprising:
- providing a wire of nickel titanium alloy with superelastic properties having a proximal end and a distal end, wherein a first length separates the proximal end from the distal end;
- applying cold work to the wire through a rotary swaging machine in a sequence that comprises:
- swaging the wire over a second length that includes the distal end by using a die set having a first diameter wherein the second length is less than the first length;
- swaging the wire over a third length that includes the distal end by using a die set having a second diameter, the third length being less than the second length, and the second diameter being less than the first diameter;
- and
- applying a reducing process to the wire, following swaging the wire over the second length and the third length, whereby the wire is reduced to have a constant diameter over the first length wherein the reducing process includes applying centerless grinding.
A method of making a medical guidewire core element comprising:
- providing a wire of nickel titanium alloy with superelastic properties having a proximal end and a distal end, wherein a first length separates the proximal end from the distal end;
- applying cold work to the wire through a rotary swaging machine in a sequence that comprises:
- swaging the wire over a second length between a first distal point and a first proximal point by using a die set having a first diameter;
- swaging the wire over a third length between a second distal point and a second proximal point by using a die set having a second diameter, the second diameter being larger than the first diameter, further including selecting the second distal point to coincide with the first proximal point;
- and
- applying a reducing process to the wire, following swaging the wire over the second length and the third length, whereby the wire is reduced to having a constant diameter over the first length wherein the reducing process includes applying centerless grinding.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.