PROCESS FOR MANUFACTURING SUTURES FROM COPOLYMERS OF GLYCOLIDE AND .EPSILON.-CAPROLACTONE

摘要

We have discovered a process for producing a suture from copolymers of glycolide and .epsilon.-caprolactone comprising the steps of (a) extruding a melted copolymer of a glycolide and .epsilon.-caprolactone resin through an orifice and rapidly quenching the melted copolymer resin to produce a filament; (b) drawing the filament in the range of from about 4X to about 7.5X to produce a singly drawn filament; (c) drawing the singly drawn filament in the range of form about 1X to about 3X in a first heated zone being maintained at a temperature in the range of from about 150.degree.F to about 450.degree.F, to form a doubly drawn filament (d) shrinking the doubly drawn filament in the range of from about 0.75 percent to about 0.98 percent in a second heated zone being maintained at a temperature in the range of from about 100.degree.F to about 400.degree.F to form a relaxed filament then rack annealing the relaxed filament to form a glycolide/.epsilon.-caprolactone suture.