Medical Plastics: Understanding Ultrasonic Welding, Part 1

Plastic consumables for medical applications are often very complex and sophisticated devices. Before these devices can be used by healthcare workers or home care patients, they...

3D Printed Lightweight Knee Brace

Researchers have developed a lighter, yet more robust knee brace for the elderly who suffer from knee problems.

Transforming Plastic Parts into High-Value Products

Learn some of the essential areas of plasma treatment in the medical device industry.

Smart Fabric Stiffens on Demand

A new type of chain mail fabric is flexible like cloth but can stiffen on demand.

Using Dynamic Weld Mode Welder to Tackle Hard-to-Handle Plastic Part Applications

For all of the advancements available in ultrasonic technology, there are certain component, material, or application characteristics that can make assembly quality very difficult to control.

Creating a Quality Management Protocol for Molded Plastics Used in Medical Device Manufacturing

Inspection, measurement, and documentation are critical elements.

New Coating Process Lights Porous Electronics and Sensors

Researchers have shown how to coat glass and plastic with porous titanium dioxide.

The Benefits of Embedding Marker Bands vs. Swaging

Advancements have enabled marker bands to be applied more safely and consistently.

Researchers Bioengineer 3D Implants for Tissue

Researchers are literally carving grooves into plastic threads used to build 3D printed tissue-engineering scaffolds with living cells.

Laser Welding ‘Clear-on-Clear’ Plastics for Medical Applications

Through a new process, it is now possible to laser-weld two optically clear plastic parts made of a wide range of polymer materials for medical applications.

Automated Production of Advanced Materials

Engineers have developed an automated way to produce polymers, making it much easier to create advanced materials aimed at improving human health. The innovation is a critical step in pushing...

3D Printed Plastics with High-Performance Electrical Circuits

Engineers have embedded high-performance electrical circuits inside 3D printed plastics, which could lead to better-performing biomedical implants. They used pulses of high-energy...

Scientists Replace Metal Collimators with Plastic Analogs

Scientists have developed plastic collimators that can replace their metal analogs used in radiation therapy. The team focused on the exact characteristics of the desired product, its...

3D Printing: SLS Creates New Potential for Design in Medical Technology

Laser sintering technology enables medical technology designers to print plastic objects for feasibility studies within a very short time. The functional prototypes...

New 3D Printing Process for Bone Implants

Researchers have developed a technique with which bone implants that are precisely fitting, stable, and variable in dimensions can be 3D printed from a special plastic. In the printing process,...

Tailoring Plastics Joining Methods to DIVERSE Medical Device Needs

The European Commission defines personalized medicine as, “a medical approach tailored to the patient or a group of patients for prevention, prediction and treatment . . ....

Research Collaboration Could Reshape Injection Molding

As Ralph Colby peers at the microscope image in front of him, he thinks he can make them out — “shish kebabs,” as polymer scientists call them. Nobody knows for sure what they are,...

Ensuring Injection Molding Quality for Medical Devices

Plastics are incredibly versatile. There are thousands of types available to satisfy a myriad of medical applications. Yet, certain plastics present special challenges during the...

Four-Step Plastic Testing Protocol: Making Informed Design and Material Decisions

Medical devices across the United States must not only keep pace with advances in technology but also with the increased use of harsh solvents and...

Low-Cost Plastic Sensors Could Monitor a Range of Health Conditions

An international team of researchers have developed a low-cost sensor made from semiconducting plastic that can be used to diagnose or monitor a wide range of health...

Exploring Oligomers for Medical 3D Printing

In 3D printing, the additive manufacturing processes use gradual creation or addition of materials to form an object. 3D printing has become a widely used method for manufacturing prototypes in...

Considerations for Specifying Ultra-Engineering Polymers for Extruded Medical Applications – Part 2

With the shift in the medical industry to more minimally invasive, quicker, and more effective procedures, the goal is to minimize patient...

Making the Gas Assist Plastic Molding Process Work for Medical Applications

Gas assist molding offers a variety of process and design advantages for medical equipment applications. It produces parts that are smooth and extremely cleanable,...

Laser Direct Structuring for Sensor Manufacturing

Every day the world’s leading medical device companies rely upon laser direct structuring (LDS) to meet their most demanding design and performance requirements. Millions of electronic...

3D-Printing Materials Offer Safer Option for Wound Care

Cellulose nanofibrils have properties that can improve the characteristics of bio-based 3D printing pastes. VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland is developing a 3D wound care...

Shape Memory Gold Could Lead to Damage-Tolerant Devices

Technion-Israel Institute of Technology,
Haifa, Israel
www.technion.ac.il

Researchers from the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology and Germany have demonstrated for the...

New HAI-Prevention Cleaning Protocols Reinforce Need for Material Consideration for Medical Device Housings

As in any industry, new technologies and material choices present new opportunities and challenges for OEMs looking to build brand...

Sensors Detect Disease Markers in Breath

A small, thin square of an organic plastic that can detect disease markers in breath could soon be the basis of portable, disposable sensor devices. By riddling the thin plastic films with pores,...

Disposables

The potential for environmental stress cracking is a common concern when plastics are used in medical devices. According to materials expert Jeffrey Jansen of The Madison Group, environmental stress cracking (ESC) is considered a...