Patent ID: 7540994

Claim:
A method for forming a medical device comprising the steps of: a) forming a rod or tube having a surface and an outer diameter, said rod or tube is a metal alloy that is formed of at least about 99.9 weight percent of a solid solution and includes carbon and oxygen, said metal alloy including a majority weight percent molybdenum plus rhenium; b) drawing down said outer diameter of said rod or tube by a reducing mechanism that reduces said outer diameter by less than about 25% each time said rod or tube is processed by said reducing mechanism; c) cleaning said surface of said rod or tube after each of said step of drawing; d) annealing said rod or tube prior to said rod or tube having said outer diameter draw down by more than about 50%; and, e) controlling an atmosphere about said rod or tube during said steps of drawing and annealing so that said metal alloy of said rod or tube after final drawing and annealing steps includes less than about 20 ppm nitrogen, less than about 150 ppm carbon, and less than about 50 ppm oxygen and a carbon to oxygen atomic ratio of at least about 2:1.