INNOVATION & DEVELOPMENT IN MEDICAL PLASTICS/ DEVICES & PHARMA PACKING

PROCESSING:

List of some primary categories of plastics machinery:

• Blow moulding -is a type of process for creating hollow plastic products.
• Extrusion Moulding -material is melted and formed into a continuous profile
• Compression Moulding -material is preheated and is placed into a heated die followed by compression under heat and pressure.
• Rotational moulding – involves a heated hollow mould, filled with powder plastic resin. The mould continues to rotate biaxially causing the softened material to disperse and stick to the walls of the mould uniformly.
• Injection Moulding - is a process where material is fed into a heated barrel and then injected into a mould cavity. The molten plastic fills the cavity/s in the mould and is then cooled. The material hardens to the shape of the cavity.

Injection moulding machines are classified by the type of driving systems:

• Hydraulic Injection moulding m/c - All process relevant movements (material injection, hold time, mould open/close) are executed via hydraulic motors /pistons.
• All electric Injection moulding m/c - The all-electric injection moulding machine uses servo electric motors to perform all functions
• Hybrid Injection moulding m/c - The injection unit is all electric but the clamping unit is a hydraulic drive.

Advantages of Hydraulic Injection moulding

The hydraulic injection moulding machine has been existing for a long period. This is ideal for the production of large parts, thickwalled & highly complex component/s, entails low cost to maintain, easy availability of spare parts, hence cost-effective to maintain.

Advantages of all-electric Injection moulding

The all-electric injection moulding machine is close loop circuit machines & Its moulding parameters are controlled by a computer and the injection performance is stable. With the advantages of high speed, high efficiency and high precision. This technology is most suitable for processing high value-added components / products such as small & fine, high precision parts.

The all-electric injection moulding machine has low noise during operation.

No hydraulic oil is used in this machine, So all electric machine most suitable for clean room medical device production.

Conclusion:

From a long time, the full hydraulic injection moulding machine has always been preferred.

However, with the advent of the full electric injection moulding technology, the trend is shifting.

Majority of Medical Device components are moulded on injection moulding moulds. Commonly used moulds are :

Cold Runner Moulds

• Cold runner mould usually consists of two or three plates. In this system the runners are unheated and act as delivery system.

Hot Runner Moulds
• Hot runner mould consists of two plates that are heated with a manifold system. The hot runner process eliminates runners entirely. Hence, recycle & regrind do not impact cycle time.

Multi Cavity Mould

• Moulds with large number of cavities are designed with hot runner moulds which have definite advantage for accuracy, flash-free moulded parts, dimensional consistency. In addition there are no runners present, that may get entangled in the mould mechanisms, robots, conveyors, assembly machinery, etc.

Therefore, hot runner multi-cavity mould is most suitable for medical device industries.

Clean room moulding
Device parts are moulded in a dedicated room that is optimized to reduce the risk of contamination from dust or other particles. This process is known as clean room moulding.