Poor Adhesion of Coatings in Medical Devices: Causes, Risks, and Design Implications

Strong adhesion between coatings and substrates is essential for the safety and performance of medical devices such as expandable sheaths, catheters, and flow diverters. The image above, captured using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), demonstrates typical adhesion failures including delamination, edge lifting, and surface fragmentation—especially in high-stress regions.

How Medibrain Addresses Adhesion Challenges? Medibrain tackles coating adhesion through an integrated engineering approach that includes material compatibility assessment, optimized surface preparation, and multilayer coating design. Devices are validated under clinically relevant mechanical conditions, with microscopic analysis used to identify and mitigate early failure modes.