Balloons made from liquid crystal polymer blends
AssigneeSciMed Life Systems, Inc.
InventorsDavid A. Ferrera, George C. Michaels, Ralph J. Barry, Lixiao Wang, Jianhua Chen
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Abstract
Balloons for use on medical devices such as catheter balloons are formed from polymer blend products which include a liquid crystal polymer (LCP), a crystallizable thermoplastic polymer, especially thermoplastic polyesters such as PET, and a compatabilizer. The compatabilizer may be an ethylene-maleic anhydride copolymer, an ethylene-methyl acrylate copolymer, an ethylene-methyl acrylate copolymer, an ethylene-methyl acrylate-maleic anhydride terpolymer, an ethylene-methyl-methacrylic acid terpolymer, an acrylic rubber, an ethylene-ethyl acrylate-glycidyl methacrylate terpolymer or a mixture of two or more such polymers.
Claims12
A balloon formed from an extruded tubular parison comprising one or more layers of polymeric material, by radial expansion under pressure at an elevated temperature below the lowest temperature which will melt a said layer, wherein the polymeric material of at least one said layer is a polymer melt blend product of
- a) a thermotropic main-chain liquid crystal polymer (LCP);
- b) a crystallizable thermoplastic polymer;
- and
- c) at least one compatabilizer for a) and b);
- wherein said at least one compatabilizer modifies any phase boundary of the thermotropic LCP and the crystallizable thermoplastic polymer and also enhances adhesion between said thermotropic LCP and said crystallizable thermoplastic polymer.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.