Dicronite Dry Lubriction Coating Improves Lifetime & Performance Of Medical Device

S M Kanakaraj Managing Director Mark TechPro & Consultants Pvt. Ltd.

Dicronite Dry Lubrication Coating is one of the techniques used to reduce friction of components and increase its life as well. This coating enables reduction in friction between two surfaces during sliding between each other with or without the need for a liquid medium. Medical device manufacturer’s & design engineer’s key target is to improve life time & performance of the medical device. This can be achieved by reducing the FRICTION related problems like WEAR, FRETTING, GALLING, SEIZING in the medical device. The lubricity of many solids is attributable to a lamellar structure. The lamellar orient parallel to the surface in the direction of motion and slide easily over each other resulting in low friction and preventing contact between sliding components even under high loads. Today, Dicronite Dry Lubrication coating is a proven technology for most of the critical applications at severe working conditions. Thin film Dicronite Dry Lubrication reduces friction and wear with an extremely low coefficient of friction (0.030 to 0.07 μ) in a very thin film (0.5 microns) that is extremely stable under a wide temperature range (cryogenic to +538 C), under ambient to hard vacuum conditions and has load carrying capacity of 3,50,000 psi.

Common applications include bearings, valves, shafts, fittings, connectors and fasteners, linear, sliding and rotating components, cutting tools, and latching & locking mechanisms. Dicronite dry lubrication is compliant with SAE-AMS2530, biocompatible per ISO-10993, RoHS Compliant and is applied by facilities that hold SAE-AS9100/ ISO-9001 quality certifications and also NADCAP accreditations.

When applied at near ambient temperatures, Dicronite dry lubrication is generally inert, unaffected by oils and solvents and provide best results.

This is widely used across many industries in order to:

• Increase service life and performance through friction and wear reduction
• Enable faster assembly and permit disassembly/maintenance by eliminating seizing and galling
• Lubricate in vacuum or high/low temperature situations
• Extent service intervals and provide backup or co-lubrication with oils and greases.

Many OEMs are still exploring different techniques and successfully adopting the right techniques for their components. Dry Lubrication Coating Technology is worth a solution for the long pending problem of improving life of components.

BACKGROUND

HASCO®, an international mold manufacturer, was charged with creating plastic injection molding equipment for the manufacture of pharmaceutical spray bottle screw caps. The system design required:

• High dimensional stability: 0.05 mm for threads, sealing edges, and snap-in edges
• Suitability for clean room productio
• Cycle time less than 17 seconds
• Effective demolding – part has undercuts, angled ribs, and threads

DESIGN

HASCO® engineers created an innovative solution that incorporated standard transmission components and pre-hardened, tempered stainless-steel molds. Dicronite® was applied on the molds and all transmission components including gear wheels, toothed racks, ball bearings, spherical bushings, guide rails, and guide blocks

RESULTS

• Dicronite® bonded to mold surfaces as well as guide rails treated with a hard coating
• Dimensional stability was maintained
• Faster mold movements resulted in shorter cycle times
• Friction and heat was reduced, resulting in less wear of transmission components
• No additional lubrication was necessary and therefore, no particulates or outgassing compromised the clean room environment
• Faster mold movements resulted in shorter cycle times
• Molds released effectively in extremely high temperatures

With the help of Dicronite®, HASCO® delivered an effective clean room manufacturing solution capable of producing plastic parts for pharmaceutical use.

PRODUCT DESCRIPTION

Dicronite® is a tungsten disulfide (Ws2), dry film lubricant coating. This extremely thin film coating provides friction and sliding wear reduction in various applications across numerous industries. Dicronite® is suitable for demanding environments such as extreme temperatures, vacuum, precision tolerances, and many more.

APPLICATION PROCESS DESCRIPTION

Dicronite® is applied at one of many licensed coating facilities. After surface preparation, Dicronite® dry lubricant is impinged onto the substrate surface at high velocity. The coating process is conducted at ambient conditions. The material includes no binders or adhesives and requires no curing. Dicronite® can be re-applied to the same component repeatedly.

SUBSTRATES : All metals, most plastics, and some ceramics; may be applied on other coatings/platings.

COATING PROPERTIES :

CHEMICAL STABILITY Inert

TOXICITY Non-toxic

COMPATIBILITY

RADIATION Radiation stable; tested according to LEO and nuclear containment vessel radiation levels
 

BIOCOMPATIBILITY Biocompatible per USP Class VI and select ISO-10993 testing

Case Study

Dicronite coating facility is now available in India. Dicronite is now operating a demo facility in Chennai and the first licensed center by Avasarala Technologies Ltd., Bangalore will be operational by end of 2023. For further technical & licensee opportunity , please do contact Mr S M Kanakaraj, Managing Director, Mark TechPro & Consultants Pvt Ltd. And Dicronite India representative at Cell number : 89398 80655 / 94443 76957. Mail id : raj@mark-consultancy.com ; Web : www.mark-seals.com ; www.dicronite.com