Hollow Fibers
Hollow Fibers
Hollow medical fibers are simply polymeric fibers that
have a continuous hole running down the middle , which is created by
introduction of air or other gas (nitrogen) in the polymer solution (in wet
spinning process or by melt spinning through specially designed spinnerets ,
having a wide – ranging and precise control of wall thickness and diameter in
the course of production
The Fibers must be
porous in order to act as a filter. Porosity must be structured in the fibers.
One method of doing this is to add a soluble particulate into the polymer
before is made into a hollow fiber. This material is then dissolved out of the fiber
by passing it through a leaching solution. This method is used for making
hollow fibers from both melt spun or solution – spun precursors. In another
method a hollow fiber is melt spun and then subject to a cryogenic gas that
actually shatters the polymer to cause voids
Hollow Fiber with
porous wall structure (hollow membranes with a very large surface / volume
ratio in a smallest space have found increasing access to hemodialysis and they have replaced coil and laminate in
dialyzer devices.
