By Serena LI | Updated: 2026-09-04
When I first started working in the production of medical tubing and medical supplies, I always thought that material selection was one of the simpler steps in product development. You choose PVC, TPU, or silicone based on product requirements, confirm the dimensions, hardness, and other basic parameters, and then you're ready to move into production.
But once I actually got involved in production, I increasingly realized that things were far from that simple. Sometimes a customer would simply ask for the tubing to be "a little softer," or inquire, "Can we just replace this PVC tubing with silicone?" On paper, the outer diameter, inner diameter, and length might not change, but as soon as the material is switched, the subsequent production process often has to be adjusted accordingly.
PVC is likely one of the most common materials used in disposable medical supplies. It is transparent and easy to process, and its formulation can be adjusted to achieve varying degrees of flexibility, making it a very common choice for the manufacture of suction tubes, oxygen tubes, drainage tubes, and many other types of disposable medical tubing. Precisely because PVC is so widely used, we sometimes perceive it as a very "mature" material. In reality, discussions regarding medical-grade PVC have continued unabated in recent years. For example, concerns about plasticizers such as DEHP in traditional plasticized PVC have driven the industry to continually seek new formulations and alternative materials. A review article published in "Progress in Polymer Science" accurately addresses this shift and the growing interest in alternatives to traditional phthalate-plasticized PVC.(Federica, 2013)
My impression of TPU is completely different. In many cases, when a product requires both softness and a certain level of mechanical strength and elasticity, TPU comes into consideration. However, once the material is switched from PVC to TPU, engineers immediately face a host of new challenges. Extrusion temperature, cooling methods, molds, cutting, and even subsequent bonding may all require readjustment.A 2016 study on polyurethane and silicone tubing also founds that the significant differences between two materials in terms of mechanical properties and surface characteristics, with polyurethane tubing exhibiting higher tensile strength. In other words, the material doesn't just determine "whether it feels soft enough", it also directly affects how the final product is used and processed.(Ulrike, 2016)
Silicone is perhaps the material that has given me the greatest sense of contrast since I first encountered it. The finished product has a very soft and elastic texture, which is why silicone is commonly used in foley catheters and other products that require a high degree of flexibility. Silicone has been used in the biomedical field for many years, and its inherent flexibility and chemical stability are significant advantages.Silicone has unique characteristics in terms of its rheological properties, surface properties, and mechanical performance, so extrusion, molding, bonding, and assembly require a distinct set of process approaches. A review article "Biomedical Silicones: Leveraging Additive Strategies to Propel Modern Utility" also noted that while silicone possesses excellent flexibility and chemical stability, its surface, rheological, and mechanical properties can impose limitations on practical applications.(Alec,2023)
It is very interested that two tubes may look almost identical and have exactly the same dimensions, but as long as they're made of different materials, they become two completely different products once they hit the production line. The extrusion parameters that were previously stable may no longer be usable, the original bonding methods may no longer be suitable, and even the cutting, forming, and assembly processes may need to be revalidated.So if you ask me which material is better-PVC, TPU, or silicone-I actually don't think there's a single, definitive answer. What really matters isn't which material sounds more high-end, but whether it's suitable for the product's intended use and whether it can be manufactured consistently and reliably over the long term.
This is also one of the things I've come to appreciate since getting involved in medical device manufacturing. Many products appear very simple at first glance, but once you really delve into them, you discover that materials, manufacturing processes, and quality control are all hidden within that "simplicity."
Reference
Chiellini, F., Ferri, M., Morelli, A., Dipaola, L., & Latini, G. (2013). Perspectives on alternatives to phthalate plasticized poly (vinyl chloride) in medical devices applications. Progress in polymer science, 38(7), 1067-1088.
Braun, U., Lorenz, E., Weimann, C., Sturm, H., Karimov, I., Ettl, J., ... & Wildgruber, M. (2016). Mechanic and surface properties of central-venous port catheters after removal: A comparison of polyurethane and silicon rubber materials. Journal of the mechanical behavior of biomedical materials, 64, 281-291.
Marmo, A. C., & Grunlan, M. A. (2023). Biomedical silicones: leveraging additive strategies to propel modern utility. ACS macro letters, 12(2), 172.
