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US 11,161,736 B2Granted
Versatile, flexible and biocompatible elastomeric microtubes
AssigneesNational University of Singapore, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University
InventorsWang Xi, Chwee Teck Lim, Fang Kong, Xiaobo Gong
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Abstract
The present invention relates to a flexible polymer-based microtube having an inner diameter of about 4 μm to about 1000 μm and a variable outer diameter, wherein the cross-sectional shape of the microtube can be, for instance, circular, rectangular, square, triangular, elliptical, star or irregular. The present invention also relates to a method of making the flexible microtube and devices incorporating the flexible microtube.
Claims12
A method of making a flexible microtube comprising a polymer, the method comprising:
- immersing a wire into a pool comprising heat curable polymer;
- heating the wire for a first period of time, thereby initiating curing of the heat curable polymer at the surface of the wire;
- pulling the wire out of the pool;
- heating the wire for a second period of time, thereby curing additional heat curable polymer and producing a polymer coated wire;
- immersing the polymer coated wire in a liquid bath with sonication, thereby loosening the polymer-wire contact;
- removing the wire from the polymer coated wire, thereby producing a polymeric microtube;
- and
- heating the polymeric microtube, thereby producing the flexible microtube.
5 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.