PAWTUCKET, R.I.—Teknor Apex Co. is marketing a film product to the medical device industry it said combines the advantages of thermoplastic elastomers over PVC, the benefits of calendaring and the sealing efficiency of radio frequency welding.
Working in collaboration with O'Sullivan Films of Winchester, Va., and Indianapolis-based Genesis Plastics Welding, Teknor said its Medalist MD-500 Series elastomers can be used successfully in such applications as fluid drainage, storage bags, cushioning bladders and surgical pouches. The company said it performs comparably to PVC in processing, bonding, assembling and clinical handling, with cost and weight savings.
Teknor said O'Sullivan Films has shown the medical elastomers can be successfully formulated for calendaring, which provides thickness uniformity, more consistent physical properties and greater thermal stability than film extrusion.
Film and bag applications for the product include cushioning bladders (for mattresses, wheel chairs and gurneys); intravenous and saline bags; medicine storage and delivery pouches; bags for nutrition storage and delivery; dialysis bags; and surgical pouches.
According to a company spokesman, the product has the same degree of strength as PVC film twice as think, and that it is 30 percent less dense than flexible PVC. In addition, Medalist elastomers are available at lower hardness ranges than flexible PVC, demonstrate more elasticity and tear strength, have better flexibility and impact strength at low temperatures, are less permeable to nitrogen and moisture and have a wider range of service temperatures.