Medical Grade Tantalum Balls
As the sole ISO 13485 certified manufacturer X-medics is a dominant medical material supplier and stockist of tantalum balls in the dimensions 0.3 to 3 mm available for worldwide shipping. The balls from X-medics fulfill market leading quality specifications, and are supplied with full 3rd party documentation for surface purity and tantalum raw material conformance.
X-medics’ balls offer good radiographic opacity, and excellent biocompatibility, compared to other metal alloys, like stainless steel and titanium and are suitable as orthopedic x-ray markers applied in medical equipment made from e.g. surgical quality plastic or titanium alloy. They are further characterized by a good sphericity, a well-defined diameter and adequate mechanical properties to withstand the impact of insertion into the devices.
ASTM F86 passivation is offered as standard option to ensure a well defined purity of the tantalum surface.
X-medics’ products are sold as technical components for production and R&D purposes. Unfortunately we do not offer finished medical devices or products registered for end-user surgery.
Beads, balls and spheres are synonyms for identical tantalum products.
Large Ball Inventory for Instant Shipping
X-medics holds a large inventory for shipping off-the-shelf, and supports almost any required quantity, delivered world-wide in max. 3 days. Please contact us or browse in our inventory below. For most products, you can purchase samples for product testing. If your required balls are not listed as a standard item, they may be made to order (lead time and minimum order requirement applies).
Inventory for Instant Shipping
Browse and select your tantalum ball product below, to see our available inventory. All listed products are available as test samples, that can be checked out with use of a credit card directly from the product pages. Consider ordering more test samples at the same time, to save shipping costs.
Diameter 0.300 mm (0.0118")
Diameter 0.400 mm (0.0157")
Diameter 0.500 mm (0.0197")
Diameter 0.650 mm (0.0256")
Diameter 0.800 mm (0.0315")
Super Polished
- B0800-BU2-S80: High Tolerance +/- 0.005 mm (0.0002″) – Ta R05200 – Super Polished – ASTM F86 Cleaned and Passivated
- B0800-BU2-SK8: High Tolerance +/- 0.005 mm (0.0002″) – Ta R05200 – Super Polished – ASTM F86 – Clean room packaging
- B0800-BA4-S00: High Tolerance +/- 0.005 mm (0.0002″) – Ta R05400 – Super Polished – ANNEALED
Diameter 1.000 mm (0.0394")
Super polished
- B1000-BU2-S80: High Tolerance +/- 0.005 mm (0.0002″) – Ta R05200 – Super Polished – ASTM F86 Cleaned and Passivated
- B1000-BU2-S00: High Tolerance +/- 0.005 mm (0.0002″) – Ta R05200 – Super Polished
- B1000-BU2-S8K: High Tolerance +/- 0.005 mm (0.0002″) – Ta R05200 – Super Polished – ASTM F86 – Clean room packaging
Diameter 1.600 mm (0.0630")
Diameter 2.000 mm (0.0787")
Diameter 2.100 mm (0.0827")
Diameter 2.360 mm (0.0929")
Diameter 2.680 mm (0.1055")
Diameter 2.730 mm (0.1075")
Diameter 3.175 mm (0.125")
ISO 9001 and ISO 13485
X-medics is ISO 9001:2015 and ISO 13485:2016 certified by Bureau Veritas Europe.
> Link to ISO 9001:2015 certificate
> Link to ISO 13485:2016 certificate
3rd Party Material Evaluation
Every material lot used in X-medics’ production has been tested by an independent ISO 17025 accredited laboratory to confirm that the tantalum material satisfies the requirements of ASTM F560 / ISO 13782 and is suitable for ball processing. A copy of the certificate is provided with all shipments from X-medics. The laboratory analyses the chemical and mechanical characteristics of the wire, and compares them again the tantalum grade standards.
> Read more about 3rd party material analysis
Conflict Free Sourcing
All X-medics’ tantalum products are conflict-free. X-medics only works with suppliers that can show evidence for a continuous 3rd party auditing, performed by independent auditors appointed by Electronic Industry Citizenship Coalition (www.eicc.info), or similar recognized bodies. Proper origin of the materials, and compliance with the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act’s conflict minerals is required to be documented, and this documentation can be tracked on the certificate that follows any shipment from X-medics. X-medics does not use tantalum minerals with origin in the DRC Congo, or other conflict areas covered by the law.
> Read more about conflict free sourcing of tantalum.
ISO 10993-5 Cytotoxicity Testing
The produced Ta balls are tested for cytotoxicity according to ISO 10093-5 (Biological evaluation of medical devices — Part 5: Tests for in vitro cytotoxicity) by an ISO 17025 accredited laboratory. The test is done to verify that no harmful substances (process chemicals, cleaning agents or particles) remain in critical (cytotoxic) amounts after the balls have been processed and cleaned.
> Read more about ISO 10993-5 Cytotoxicity Testing
REACH and RoHS Compliance
All tantalum products from X-medics are REACH and RoSH compliant.
Ball Tolerance
X-medics’ standard precision ball tolerance is +/- 0.005 mm (AFMBA grade 50) which has been optimized for automated processing and general tolerance requirements when inserted into PEEK and other medical grade materials. For some ball diameters, we also offer a lower (+/- 0.02 mm) precision tolerance, which we can offer at a slightly reduced cost than our standard tolerance.
> Read more about Ball tolerances.
Tantalum Specifications
Surgical balls of tantalum are available in two tantalum material types – R05200 (electron beam / vacuum arc melted) and R05400 (sintered). A tantalum ball made from R05200 and Tantalum R05400 is equally suitable for surgery, and offers similar mechanical and chemical properties.
> Read more about tantalum grades.
Surface finish
X-medics’ tantalum balls are available as either standard polished or super polished. The standard polished balls undergo a single polishing step during ball processing and it is a cost optimized option that is suitable for most applications. The super polished balls undergo several polishing steps and they have been developed as a high-end option to be used in critical automated processes.
> Read more about surface finish.
ASTM F86 Cleaning and Passivation
ASTM F86 Cleaning and Passivation is a standard cleaning procedure to remove particles and process residues from the tantalum surface. As ASTM F86 is a cost efficient cleaning method, it is specified by 90 percent of X-medics’ customers. In some cases, ASTM F86 treatment is not suitable, as the passivation may increase the thickness of the naturally occurring tantalum oxide layer on the tantalum surface. The thicker tantalum oxide layer may tend to build up static electricity, and increase the surface roughness (friction) of the balls. The cleaning procedure is originally developed for stainless steel and titanium implants, but is also suitable for tantalum.
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