As originally asked by Bob Norcross.

Richard Brautigam
Business Development
Glad to see my memory serves me well. I worked with all these coatings while supplying OEM components at Wilmad. The parts were sent out to specialist shops to be properly coating.

George Purtell
Senior NPD Engineer at NextPhase Medical Devices
Silicones are relatively cheap and easy to apply. However, silicone fluids migrate A LOT and if you are not very careful you can really contaminate a manufacturing facility with it. It can get on lots of surfaces that you do not want it on. This can make any adhesive bonding applications very difficult to do. Teflon coatings are used a lot. Their primary disadvantage is that teflon does not hold up at all to Gamma sterilization though they will sterilize well with Eto. It is the most lubricious surface possible short of using a hydrophilic. Hydrophilics are by far the most lubricious coatings. However they can be difficult to work with unless you outsource that activity to a company that specializes in it. There are also many hydrophilic companies that license out their technology.

Richard Brautigam
Business Development
Bob, I would defer to Walter but typically these coatings are surface coatings on implants or other devices. Their application methods are well understood and in ten years I don’t recall any viscosity issues, since they are not filled or pigmented in any way. Plastics are pigmented by well understood methods, and this is done prior to any fabrication into a part used in device fabrication.

Bob Norcross
President, Norcross Corporation
I have had years of experiences in Tio2 in white inks in flexo and gravure coatings as well as acetone based silicone for needle coating. In the use of Hyrophilic or super phobic coatings are they used in quanties where production control of their viscosity is needed.?

Walter Wong
at Diablo Sales
Hydrophilic coatings, surface texturing, teflon, etc. Also depends on your definition of ease of penetration (eg starting force, sliding force, patient sensations, etc). What is your need?

Neil McClelland
Consultant in SiO2 nano-scale coatings
Super-phobic, anti pathogen, SiO2 coatings are suitable for this application.