Polymer materials suppliers Borealis (Vienna) and Borouge (Abu Dhabi) have developed a high-flow, heterophasic polypropylene copolymer for the production of medical and diagnostic devices. The addition of Bormed BJ868MO to the Borealis Bormed portfolio of polyethylene and polypropylene products was announced this week at Medical Design & Manufacturing (MD&M) West in Anaheim, CA, and Pharmapack 2019 in Paris.
Borealis Bormed BJ868MO was developed for the express purpose of enabling Borealis and Borouge healthcare customers to achieve full regulatory compliance in the production of medical and diagnostic devices such as pipettes. Bormed BJ868MO is under the umbrella of the Bormed Concept, which guarantees Borealis and Borouge customers a secure, long-term supply of materials in compliance with European and U.S. pharmacopeia and ISO standards. The Bormed Concept includes a two-year pre-notification period, whereby customers are informed of any changes to the product. Long-term product traceability is ensured through retention of quality control data and samples.
Validation of the newly developed material was carried out in cooperation with Premix Oy, a manufacturer of electrically conductive and high frequency plastics based in Finland.
Proprietary PRE-ELEC Premix compounds have been used in automated liquid handling applications since the early 1990s. Because these electrically conductive plastic compounds enable extremely accurate liquid level detection, they are now widely used in in vitro diagnostics to ensure precise measurement.
Borealis Bormed BJ868MO was used as a base for a new electrically conductive compound used in the production of high-precision pipettes. In addition to being covered by the Bormed Concept, the material offers several benefits:
- High impact resistance that minimizes risk of breakage and ensures good drop performance of the final device at refrigerator, deep freezer and sub-zero temperatures;
- high flow, which enables fast and easy mold filling; and
- low holding pressures and processing temperatures as well as faster cycle times that enhance sustainability thanks to reduced energy consumption and CO2 emissions.
“At Premix, our constant aim is to improve the safety of materials used in the healthcare industry, among others, in order to make society as a whole safer,” said Noora Kuusisto, Premix Oy Global Business Development Manager, in a prepared statement. “We are pleased that this constructive collaboration with Borealis has enabled us to establish together a new benchmark for quality standards in in vitro diagnostics materials.”
