Claims
- 1. A balloon for a medical device comprising:
a polymer matrix material; and a plurality of fibers distributed in the matrix material to provide reinforcement thereof, the fibers being distributed in a selected direction relative to the balloon axis and composed of material which has a greater tensile strength than the matrix material.
- 2. A balloon as in claim 1 wherein the fibers are distributed in the matrix material helically relative to the balloon axis.
- 3. A balloon as in claim 2 wherein said fibers are cores of polymeric material coextruded with the matrix polymer material.
- 4. A balloon as in claim 2 wherein the bulk elongation core polymeric material is 150% or less.
- 5. A balloon as in claim 2 wherein the core polymeric material has a bulk elongation less than the matrix material when oriented in the direction of the longitudinal axis.
- 6. A balloon as in claim 1, the balloon having a wall composed of a plurality of laminate layers, at least one layer of which comprises said polymer matrix material and said fibers.
- 7. A balloon as in claim 6 wherein said laminate layers comprise an alternating series of fiber-containing and fiber-free layers.
- 8. A balloon as in claim 7 having at least 7 of said laminate layers.
- 9. A balloon as in claim 6 wherein the fibers are distributed in the matrix material helically relative to the balloon axis.
- 10. A balloon as in claim 9 wherein said fibers are cores of polymeric material coextruded with the matrix polymer material.
- 11. A balloon as in claim 9 wherein said fibers are LCP fibers having a diameter of from 0.01 to about 10 microns.
- 12. A balloon as in claim 6 having a body portion wherein the fibers are oriented substantially parallel to the longitudinal axis of the balloon.
- 13. A balloon as in claim 12 wherein the fibers are LCP fibers having a diameter of from 0.01 to about 10 microns.
- 14. A balloon for a medical device comprising from 7 to 50 laminate layers of polymer material.
- 15. A balloon as in claim 14 comprising an alternating series of (A) layers composed of a single polymer material and (B) layers composed of a blend of a matrix polymer material and an LCP polymer.
- 16. A balloon as in claim 15 wherein the single polymer material and the matrix polymer material are the same.
- 17. A balloon as in claim 15 wherein the single polymer material is a compliant or semi-compliant polymer material.
- 18. A balloon as in claim 15 wherein the ratio A/B of the total thickness of the two types of layers, (A )and (B) respectively, is from about 5 to about 15.
- 19. A balloon as in claim 18 wherein said ratio is from 8 to 10.
- 20. A balloon as in claim 15 wherein in the layers (B) the LCP polymer is present in the blend in an amount of from about 5 to about 25% by weight.
- 21. A balloon as in claim 14, wherein the balloon has a longitudinal axis, at least some of said laminate layers are formed from an extruded blend of a matrix polymer material and an LCP polymer material, and the LCP polymer forming fibers within the matrix polymer with the fibers oriented substantially in a longitudinal or helical direction relative to the balloon axis.
- 21. A balloon as in claim 14 comprising alternating laminate layers of (A) a material selected from the group consisting of compliant and semi-compliant polymers and (B) a material formed from a blend of an LCP polymer with a material selected from the group consisting of compliant and semi-compliant polymers.
- 21. A balloon as in claim 21 wherein in said layers (A) and (B) said material selected from the group consisting of compliant and semi-compliant polymers is a member of the group consisting of polyamides and block copolymers comprising polyamide blocks and polyether blocks.
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] This application is a continuation-in-part of copending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/698378 which is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/426384.
Continuation in Parts (2)
|
Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
09698378 |
Oct 2000 |
US |
Child |
09885568 |
Jun 2001 |
US |
Parent |
09426384 |
Oct 1999 |
US |
Child |
09698378 |
Oct 2000 |
US |