Common Questions When Sourcing Tubing for Medical Devices

Mar 10, 2026 by IDEX Health & Science

Developers working on medical devices often face unique challenges when sourcing tubing because it impacts safety, compliance, and performance. Tubing used for medical device applications requires precision, reliability, and safety. Materials, dimensions/tolerances, optical clarity, and chemical resistance are critical factors in ensuring the tubing functions properly without risks to patients and healthcare providers.

To help you choose the right tubing for medical applications, here are some common questions to consider:

1. Material Selection

• Which materials are biocompatible and approved for medical use (FEP/PFA, ETFE, ect)
• Is the material resistant to chemicals, sterilization methods, and temperature variation

Our Advanced Thermoplastic Materials  

• PFA (fluoropolymer tubing) is a great option for medical tubing applications when you need something more resistant to chemically aggressive environments at higher temperatures. It’s excellent for sterilization (autoclaving, dry heat, and Ethylene Oxide.

Learn About Our PFA Tubing Capabilities 

• FEP tubing (fluorinated ethylene-propylene tubing) is chemically inert to most solvents and biocompatible to meet the highest demands. Due to its high chemical resistance, thermal stability, and inertness, it’s a great choice for sterilization, making it compatible with autoclaving, gamma/E-beam irradiation, and chemical sterilization.

Learn More About Our FEP Tubing Capabilities

• PEEK tubing has a very smooth internal surface, which causes less turbulence than similarly sized metal tubing. Peek is biocompatible, chemically inert to most solvents, and easily cut and withstands common sterilization methods like autoclaving, gamma radiation, and ethylene oxide without significant degradation.

Learn More About Our Peek Tubing Capabilities 

• ETFE (ethylene-tetrafluoroethylene) tubing is an excellent fluoropolymer product that offers several benefits over tubing manufactured from FEP, or PFA. These benefits include enhanced pressure holding capabilities, increased mechanical stability, and chemical resistance—also making it a great choice for sterilization.

Learn More About Our ETFE Tubing Capabilities 

2. Dimensional Tolerances / Extrusion Capabilities

• What are the inner and outer diameter tolerances of the tubing?
• Does the supplier offer different ODs?

Our Tolerance and Extrusion Capabilities 

When it comes to medical device tubing, material dimensional accuracy matters. Our tubing solutions provide the precision and performance you need and is process controlled for greater consistency:

• Outer diameters up to 0.400” for larger profiles or structural components
• Inner diameters down to 0.001” for micro precision fluid pathways
• Tolerances as tight as ±0.0005” to support exacting design specifications
• Vertically integrated extrusion and post processing, ensuring consistency, quality, and traceability
• Standard and custom sizes available, with many configurations ready to ship
• Custom extrusion runs for unique or non-stocked dimensions
• Bulk or custom-cut lengths tailored to your manufacturing needs
• Single lumen tubing (one OD and one ID)
• Multi-lumen tubing (multiple IDs for complex multi-channel designs)

3. Surface Properties

• Is the tubing transparent for visual inspection?
  

Our Clear PFA Tubing

 

Our clear/white PFA tubing is an excellent choice for medical devices that require tubing, providing visibility for fluid monitoring, is flexible, and offers excellent solvent resistance. This tubing has a smoother surface texture, higher continuous service temperature, and superior polymer purity—making it a clear choice for professionals in medical markets.

4. Customization

• Can the supplier provide custom lengths, colors, or pre-assembled sets?
• Are connectors or fittings available?
• Are there value-added capabilities like kitting and labeling?

Our Value Added Tubing Capabilitie

From custom labeling to fully tailored packaging, we can transform your tubing and assemblies into ready‑to‑use kits.

Kitting: We provide kitting options for tubing assemblies that can be used with IDEX Health & Science labeling or customized with your third-party content.

Custom Labeling & Packaging: Our products can be packaged and labeled with customer-specified part numbers, logos, barcodes, and more.

Documentation: We generate build documentation for your entire assembly and can provide documentation for any step of the process.

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