Catheter balloons

1. A balloon for catheters used in angioplasty, comprising a polyamide copolymer material represented by the general formula (I):

H—(O—PF—OOC—PA-COO—PF—OOC—PA-CO) n —OH

in which PA is a polyamide segment and PF is made from a diol segment comprising OH-terminating dimer dial polyesters and n is a number between 5 and 20.

2. A balloon according to claim 1 in which said diol segment has a molecular weight of between 400 and 2000 g/mole.

3. A balloon according to claim 2 in which said diol segment has a molecular weight of between 400 and 1000 g/mole.

4. A balloon according to claim 1 , in which said OH-terminating dimer diol polyesters are obtained from condensation with aliphatic and/or aromatic C 4 -C 44 dicarboxylic acids.

5. A balloon according to claim 4 in which the hydroxide value of said diol polyesters is between 28 and 90 mg KOH/g.

6. A balloon according to claim 1 in which the concentration of said diol segment is between 5% and 50% by weight of the total formulation.

7. A balloon according to claim 6 in which the concentration of said diol segment is between 10% and 30% by weight of the total formulation.

8. A balloon according to claim 7 in which the concentration of said diol segment is between 10% and 20% by weight of the total formulation.

9. A balloon according to claim 1 , in which said polyamide segment is selected from PA 6, PA 6/6, PA 6/9, PA 6/10, PA 6/12, PA 6/36, PA 11, PA 12, PA 12, PA 12/12.

10. A balloon according to claim 1 , in which said polyamide segment is obtained from linear or cyclic, aliphatic or aromatic C 2 -C 36 dicarboxylic acids and from aliphatic or aromatic C 2 -C 12 diamines.

11. A balloon according to claim 1 , in which said polyamide segment is a C 6 -C 12 lactam.

12. A balloon according to claim 1 , in which said polyamide segment is a C 6 -C 12 amino-carboxylic acid.

13. A balloon according to claim 1 , in which said polyamide segment is a lauryl lactam.

14. A balloon according to claim 1 , wherein the balloon has a diameter of 3 mm at a nominal pressure of 7 bar and a wall thickness of 0.04 mm.

15. A balloon according to claim 1 , wherein the balloon has a bending load equal to 0.25 N for a probe travel equal to 4 mm.

16. A balloon according to claim 14 , wherein the balloon has a bending load equal to 0.25 N for a probe travel equal to 4 mm.

17. A balloon according to claim 1 , wherein the balloon has a calculated mean burst pressure equal to 22.36 bar.

18. A balloon according to claim 1 , wherein the balloon has a Rated Burst Pressure equal to 19.67 bar.

19. A balloon according to claim 1 , characterized in that it wherein the balloon has a tensile load at failure of 32.5 N and a percentage elongation at failure equal to approximately 123%.

20. A balloon for catheters used in angioplasty, comprising a polyamide copolymer material represented by the general formula (I):

H—(O—PF—OOC—PA-COO—PF—OOC—PA-CO) n —OH

in which PA is a polyamide segment and PF is made from a diol segment comprising OH-terminating dimer diol polyesters and n is a number between 5 and 20, and in which the polyamide copolymer material has a hardness of 66 on the Shore D scale, a tensile modulus of elasticity of 500 MPa, a tensile load at failure of 40 MPa and elongation at failure of 300%.

21. A balloon for catheters used in angioplasty, comprising a polyamide copolymer material wherein in said copolymer polyamide material is represented by the general formula (I):

H—(O—PF—OOC—PA-COO—PF—OOC—PA-CO) n —OH

in which PA is a polyamide segment and PF is made from a diol segment comprising OH-terminating dimer diol polyesters and n is a number between 5 and 20 and in which dimer diols of the dimer diol polyesters are C 36 and/or C 44 dimer diols, with a diol dimer content of at least 94%.

22. A balloon according to claim 21 , wherein the diol polyesters comprise a dimer diol polyester having a molecular weight of 200 and a hydroxide value of between 52 and 60 mg KOH/g.