Urinary catheter with polyurethane coating modified by ion implantation

A low friction urinary catheter that could be used without a lubricant is proposed in this work. A polyurethane coating was synthesised on the surface of a metal guide wire catheter. Ion implantation was applied to surface modify the polyurethane coating. FTIR ATR, wetting angle, AFM and friction tests were used for analysis. Low friction was found to be provided by the formation of a hard carbonised layer on the polyurethane surface.