MicroCare Medical has earned success selling its Swellex silicone swelling fluid to companies assembling medical tubing. Here’s how it works.

Swellex temporarily softens and swells the inner diameter of a silicone rubber tube so that it can be easily attached to a barb or other connecter, as David Ferguson from MicroCare Medical demonstrated at MD&M West in February. [Image by editor Chris Newmarker]
“That’s because the swelling fluid helps workers reduce the amount of force needed to insert a tube onto a barb or other type of connector,” David A. Ferguson, senior market and technical manager at MicroCare, told Medical Design & Outsourcing.
Whether the manufacturing involves assembling IV tubes and bags, drainage catheters, dialysis machine tubing or a host of other products with tubing, companies are avoiding having to throw out tubing because of stress cracks, according to Ferguson. Swellex is also helping employees avoid carpal tunnel, wrist problems and other workplace-related injuries.
Get the full story on our sister site Medical Tubing + Extrusion.