Quick Summary
Additional Context
TE Connectivity has introduced an automated 3D printing process for producing catheter shafts, replacing a manual assembly step used across the industry.
It was developed by the Advanced Technology Group in TE’s Medical business at the PROPELUS Prototype Center in Galway, Ireland. The step it replaces exists because a catheter shaft is not uniform along its length. Different sections carry different stiffness, so the device can be pushed from outside the body while still tracking through vessels at the far end, and that means several polymer jacket sections have to go onto a single shaft.
Typically, fitting them has been a manual assembly step. The new process applies the polymer directly onto the shaft during production, and the finished shafts match conventionally built ones on mechani