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Conair Introduces New Cutter for Medical
Tubing
Conair Group offers a new micro planetary cutter for medical tubing, called the
M-TPC.
The cutter features a fully programmable servo-driven cutting head that cuts
small-diameter medical tubing that it virtually eliminates the need for
secondary, off-line finishing. The knife spins around the circumference of the
tubing from 0.08- to 1- inch in outside diameter, cutting without deformation,
burning or fracturing.
The M-TPC cutter is the latest in Conair’s MedLine family of cleanroom-ready,
downstream extrusion equipment for medical applications. Conair introduced it at
Plastec East, June 13-15 in New York.
The M-TPC planetary cutter splits the tubing apart cleanly through displacement,
without the loss of any material. This method of cutting never blocks continuous
airflow through the center of the tube, so tube sizing and ovality are not
affected, as they can be when using flying-knife cutters, according to Conair.
The Conair cutter is mounted on a servo-driven traveling table that can handle
tubing at line speeds up to 100 feet per minute. The unit can make up to 45 cuts
a minute.
http://www.plasticsnews.com/article/20170628/NEWS/170629899/conair-introduces-new-cutter-for-medical-tubing
Recent Advances in Plastics Technology for
Medical Care: Dr Mosongo Moukwa
New materials & processing techniques will enable healthcare industry to
create innovative products
Medical plastics market will reach a value of $ 6.9 billion by 2020 with a
compounded annual growth rate in the 7 percent range between 2015 and 2020.
The business drivers in the medical device industry typically include
evolutionary innovations in product performance and speed to market. Polymers
have become an integral component in a wide range of medical designs, enabling
the next generation of implants, single-use devices, and packaging technology,
among many others. There are a number of advances in polymer and materials
science that have opened up endless possibilities in medical technology. Here
are some of them.
Dissolvable sensor to monitor brain
Scientists from Washington University and the University of Illinois at Urbana
Champaign have developed a wireless device the width of a human hair that can be
implanted in the brain and activated by remote control to deliver drugs. These
are wireless bioresorbable brain sensors capable of measuring intracranial
pressure and temperature before being absorbed in the body. The devices are made
of polylactic-coglycolic acid (PLGA) and silicone. They represent a
revolutionary development for neuroscientists who can now temporarily monitor
intracranial pressure and temperature with accuracy. Once the device is no
longer needed, the body absorbs it.
Implantable elastomeric and shape memory materials
Gelest Inc, a materials technology company, has developed a new class of
elastomers with unprecedented elongation and shape recovery abilities. The new
materials, based on silicone with different functional groups, approach 5000
percent elongation at break, allowing engineers to create microfluidic devices
used in ‘in vitro’diagnostics that can withstand movement, elongation, and
distortion, yet still retain functionality.
They can be stretched, rolled, and inserted into a syringe, injected through a
small opening into the body and then, once in place, can return to its original
shape.
Stretchable films to monitor cancer patients
Thin, stretchable film, developed at University of Michigan that can coil light
waves like a Slinky could make monitoring of cancer survivors more effective and
less expensive. Film is based on the same material used for contact lenses (PDMS),
twisted and coated with nanoparticles of gold to induce reflectivity, then
untwisted. It provides a simpler, cost effective way to produce circularly
polarised light, essential ingredient in process that could provide early
warning of cancer recurrence. More frequent monitoring could enable doctors to
catch cancer recurrence earlier.
New hybrid polymers that can regenerate
A completely new hybrid polymer that incorporates rigid and soft nano scale
compartments, which can be removed and regenerated, has been developed by
Northwestern University scientists. This polymer is capable of contracting and
expanding like muscles and rapidly responding to environmental stimuli. It can
be used in implantable materials to deliver something and then chemically
regenerated to function again. Other applications of interest include the
creation of artificial muscles or other lifelike materials, delivering
biomolecules or other chemicals, selfrepairing materials and replaceable energy
sources.
Stretchable polymer for wearable electronics
Panasonic has developed a soft, flexible, and stretchable polymer resins films
that can stretch more than 2.5 times its relaxed length and return to its
original form without any damage. The film is based on a thermosetting resin
with a 3-D crosslinked structure that makes it flexible and stretchable. It
outperforms other films by retaining its mechanical properties after repeated
deformation. It is also an insulator, adding to its potential in wearable
devices as well as in transparent, stretchable electrodes.
Sponge like polymer for spinal injury
Scientists at the Mayo Clinic have developed a biodegradable polymer grafts
designed to repair damaged vertebrae in the spinal column. The polymer adapts
itself into the appropriate size and shape once implanted in the body. Derived
from a dehydrated hydrogel, surgeons would simply plant these capsules into gaps
in the spinal cord (resulting from either surgery or another injury), and our
body’s fluids would then activate the polymer, allowing them to expand to the
proper proportions.
Endless possibilities
There are so many exciting new materials and processing techniques that, alone
or in combination, will enable the healthcare industry to create innovative,
next-generation products. They will allow more effective treatments and the
promise of better patient outcomes. The combination of plastics and engineering
will continue to revolutionise medical care as far as we can see.
(Dr Mosongo Moukwa is director of technology at PolyOne, USA, and was recently
an independent consultant based in Chapel Hill, USA, and vice president -
technology at Asian Paints Ltd, Mumbai, India.)
Ref : As published in “ Business Standard and available at
web link
http://www.business-standard.com/content/b2bplastics-polymers/recent-advances-in-plastics-technology-formedical-care-dr-mosongo-moukwa-117011600298_1.html
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