Abstract

As illness becomes increasingly more common in the United States and across the globe, the need for better and faster medical treatment is greater than ever. The purpose of this work is to evaluate advanced polymers and polymer composites that will provide for increased fluid flow while maintaining outer dimensional, stiffness, and burst resistance characteristics when compared to a currently used material. A polymer configuration consisting of a proprietary formulation that has a durometer approximately 10% higher than the current material with an outer wall thickness of approximately .020" passed a series of tests involving tensile strength, stiffness, flexural fatigue resistance, vacuum lumen collapse resistance and hydraulic burst resistance. This material configuration passed the requirements for applicable test standards and had a tensile strength 13.4% less than the control group, was 52.7% stiffer, did not sustain any noticeable wear or defects during the flexural fatigue test, had a tensile strength 14.8% less that the control group during a post flex fatigue tensile test, did not burst when 150 psi was applied to it for 5 seconds, and is estimated to have a 43% higher flow rate capacity than the current material.

Degree

MS

College and Department

Ira A. Fulton College of Engineering and Technology; Technology

Rights

http://lib.byu.edu/about/copyright/

Date Submitted

2013-07-10

Document Type

Thesis

Handle

http://hdl.lib.byu.edu/1877/etd6464

Keywords

carbon nanotubes, central venous catheter, flow, glass beads, stiffness, tensile

Language

English

Technology Emphasis

Manufacturing Systems (MS)

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