Abstract: Thermoplastic monofilament sutures having improved flexibility and handling characteristics are obtained by a melt spinning process which includes the step of drawing the filaments in a heated zone maintained at a temperature above the melting temperature of the filament. The resulting monofilament sutures have a higher elongation and lower modulus than comparable monofilament sutures obtained without the heated drawing step, and are characterized by a crystalline structure which is more highly ordered in the core of the monofilament suture than in a surrounding annular area.

Abstract: Thermoplastic monofilament sutures having improved flexibility and handling characteristics are obtained by a melt spinning process which includes the step of drawing the filaments in a heated zone maintained at a temperature above the melting temperature of the filament. The resulting monofilament sutures have a higher elongation and lower modulus than comparable monofilament sutures obtained without the heated drawing step, and are characterized by a crystalline structure which is more highly ordered in the core of the monofilament suture than in a surrounding annular area.

Abstract: A powder for use in compressing molding is made by coating a high amount of filler by weight, for example calcium metasilicate with a thermoplastic resin, for example, nylon. The amount of filler to nylon is typically above 60% to 98% by weight of the powder. The resultant powder is employed in a compressive molding process in a metallurgy press to manufacture an article which is structurally stable, and which is later solidified and strength increased by crystallizing the nylon or resin in an oven raised to the crystallization temperature of the resin to result in a compressively molded article having high strength characteristics and requiring a small amount of resin as compared to conventional molding processes.