New medical grades punctuate MD&M show

Bayer MaterialScience (Leverkusen, Germany) launched its first medical-grade Bayblend PC/ABS (polycarbonate/acrylonitrile butadiene styrene) blends and Texin TPU (thermoplastic polyurethane) grades for medical at the MD&M West event last week in Anaheim, CA (Feb. 13-15; Anaheim Convention Center). The Bayblend materials—DP M850 and DP M850XF—meet the FDA-modified ISO 10933 tests for biocompatibility and can be sterilized via ethylene oxide, gamma radiation, and electron-beam radiation.

Speaking at the show, Kevin Dunay, Bayer market segment leader, anticipates applications in drug delivery, surgical instruments, and diagnostic equipment, where an opaque material is suitable and the company’s Makrolon PC may be overengineered. The material can be colored via any of Bayer’s four Fantasia systems, with the Leda coloring technology already approved for medical-grade products.

Bayer released four resins in the new medical-grade family of Texin TPUs, which are seen as a possible replacement for polyvinyl chloride (PVC) in flexible tubing, as well as connectors, puncture-resistant films, and fabric coatings. In addition, Bayer is at work using nanotechnology to impart antimicrobial properties to medical devices. Dunay said development is ongoing to get the material to medical-grade compliance, with the possibility to have a commercial offering by the end of 2007.

Bayer division Deerfield Urethane (South Deerfield, MA) used its inaugural MD&M appearance to display an expanded line of its Dureflex thermoplastic and specialty elastomer film. New grades include X2133 and X2140, which offer high elasticity and high slip/low gloss, respectively.

Specialty elastomers supplier Advanced Polymer Alloys (APA; Wilmington, DE) launched its new extrusion DuraGrip 6300 thermoplastic elastomer (TPE) as part of the Plastec West exhibition co-located with MD&M (MPW’s parent firm, Canon Communications, organizes these exhibitions). Designed for profile extrusion customers requiring a higher melt strength to run lines faster, the material already has a customer in the automotive market for belt-line seals. According to Jeff Senich, APA business development manager, the material is also nonhalogenated and could serve as a replacement for flexible PVC, increasing its green appeal, especially among transplant automotive OEMs, some of whom are making a wholesale shift away from PVC. A SEBS- (styrene-ethylene-butylene-styrene) based TPE, DuraGrip 6300 will coextrude with any polyolefin materials.

On the liquid silicone rubber (LSR) front, Dow Corning (Auburn, MI) launched its brand S Series LSR, applying the material in a multicolor application along with Toshiba, M.R. Mold & Engineering, Fluid Automation Inc., and Gayson Silicone Dispersions Inc. Using a Toshiba injection molding machine, Fluid metering equipment, Gayson coloring, and the Dow Corning material, a 10g plaque, with overmolded Toshiba blue and red strips (84 cu cm, each), was molded on one machine with one barrel thanks to a novel tool.

The key was a new M.R. Mold tool technology, wherein colorants are introduced to clear LSR at the mold via their own valve-gate runner nozzles, keeping the metering equipment, screw, and barrel free of the different colors. Doing so eliminates the need for time-consuming purges and could allow multimaterial LSR parts without multiple injection systems, savings costs and setup times.—[email protected]