Application of Plastics in Medical Devices

As a very important material, plastic has been widely used in the medical field. Such as pharmaceuticals, pharmaceutical packaging, disposable medical devices (infusion set, syringe, etc.), non-disposable medical equipment (meters, surgical instruments, etc.) applications, all require plastic.

Plastics have several advantages in medical applications:

1. Light weight, use of labor-saving, help reduce the fatigue caused by long-term surgery doctors. It is more suitable for human blood and muscle tissue, so it is more effective.

2. Good toughness, strong permeability, and durability, some plastic can be used normally at high temperatures.

3. It has transparency and can be better observed in the medical process, especially in the surgical process.

4. Easy to form, suitable for the production of a variety of modeling, complex structure of medical equipment and supplies, and only the use of low-cost production process. The use of disinfectant or high temperature sterilization does not cause corrosion or color change.

5. Compared with other raw materials such as metal, it’s low cost, more suitable for the production of disposable loss products, used as a packaging material after sterilization will help reduce the risk of infection.

6. Compared with ceramic or glass and other fragile materials, the use of plastic is more secure, especially for packaging materials.

In addition to traditional medical plastics, such as PP, PVC, PE, etc. which are commonly used in the medical device industry. Some high-performance materials such as PEEK, biocompatible PC, and thermoplastic elastomer TPE are all important materials for the advancement of the medical device industry.