Stainless precision steel strip with outstanding welding and forming properties for the manufacture of medical cannulas

In the first stage of production, the narrow steel strip supplied by Waelzholz is formed into tubes with a diameter of just a few millimeters and then welded shut. The precision of the weld seams plays a critical role in the subsequent processing steps and in the subsequent use of the cannulas. “When it comes to the process of welding the later cannulas, it’s extremely important that the strip is completely flat and that the cutting edges are uniform,” says Jan Ullosat, materials engineer at Waelzholz.

Waelzholz has optimized the cutting process using specially developed tools, particularly for materials whose efficient further processing requires highly uniform edges. This results in extremely precise cutting edges, meaning that it’s possible to almost completely avoid asymmetrical weld seams (see microscope images).

By optimizing the technically relevant material parameters, the stainless steel material for medical devices also offers clear financial advantages, often saving our customers time-consuming and cost-intensive preparatory processing steps.

“Waelzholz has a proven track record of manufacturing absolutely homogeneous strip across many production batches. This applies equally to our stainless steel materials’ flatness, cutting edges, and surfaces as well as to their microstructure and degree of purity. Thanks to its consistently high quality, customers from the medical technology sector have been relying on our stainless precision steel strip for over 10 years,” Sauer reports. In addition to medical cannulas, blood lancets and various spring applications for insulin pens, among other devices, are also manufactured using stainless precision steel strip from Waelzholz.

We achieve this high level of confidence in our products through sophisticated quality management with transparent traceability and thorough documentation, among other measures. “We’re excited about every new project with technically complex requirements and high standards when it comes to seamless quality management. This is because we can also score points with and delight our customers when it comes to these two aspects,” sums up Sauer.