Medical - The Expert's View

Mar 19, 2010 - High-performance infusion pump for medical uses by ISPA (Innovation Brief)

Infusion pumps are used to administer drugs including intravenous and subcutaneous products and have to be able to dose them with high accuracy. For this, the German medical product manufacturer RoweMed AG has designed an innovative...
Mar 15, 2010 - Innovative heart valve leaflets by ISPA (Innovation Brief)

A new kind of mechanical heart valve leaflets, without secondary finishing, has been developed from a polyamide (PA) material by using an entirely new type of injection mold built by the German specialist of high-performance molds for clean...
Mar 15, 2010 - Potential hazard in structural applications of PLA by Duane B. Priddy (R&D Highlight)

With their excellent biocompatibility and relatively high mechanical strength, PLAs are attractive candidates for application in load-bearing, resorbable implants. Pre-clinical studies provided a proof of principle for PLA cages as...
Mar 09, 2010 - Recent advances and challenges in designing stimuli-responsive polymers by Duane B. Priddy (R&D Highlight)

Synthetic materials capable of responses to external or internal stimuli represent one of the most exciting and emerging areas of scientific interest and unexplored commercial applications. While there are many exciting challenges facing...
Mar 05, 2010 - Design of biodegradable polymer systems for tissue engineering by Duane B. Priddy (R&D Highlight)

A vast majority of biodegradable polymers studied belongs to the polyester family which includes polyglycolides and polylactides. Some disadvantages of these polymers in tissue engineering applications are their poor bio-compatibility,...
Feb 26, 2010 - Clean chair for porters by ISPA (Innovation Brief)

The UK-based medical products manufacturer Vernacare Ltd. has designed an innovative ultra hygienic prototype of porter chair for hospitals in collaboration with the design consultancy Minima. This new kind of porter chair is comfortable...
Feb 22, 2010 - PC component for needle-free injection of medication by ISPA (Innovation Brief)

A polycarbonate (PC) material i.e. Makrolon™ Rx2530 from the German material producer Bayer MaterialScience LLC has been used to produce an injected molded component of a new needle-free injection of medications designed by Avant Medical....
Feb 16, 2010 - Encapsulation Using Hyperbranched Polymers: New Applications by Duane B. Priddy (R&D Highlight)

Dendritic polymers, such as hyperbranched polymers, are increasingly being studied in the context of encapsulation. The intensive research on encapsulation using hyperbranched polymers is motivated by factors such as a cost-effective...
Feb 11, 2010 - Emerging applications of stimuli-responsive polymer materials by Duane B. Priddy (R&D Highlight)

Responsive polymer materials can adapt to surrounding environments, regulate transport of ions and molecules, change wettability and adhesion of different species on external stimuli, or convert chemical and biochemical signals into... (1 Member Reaction)
Jan 27, 2010 - Tailored additive release rates in extruded plastic films produced with smart blending machines by Duane B. Priddy (R&D Highlight)

Smart blenders controllably form multi-component polymer melts into a wide variety of fine-scale structural arrangements that can be retained in extruded plastics. The machines operate on the principle of chaotic advection, a recent...
Jan 21, 2010 - Designer Biomaterials for Nanomedicine by Duane B. Priddy (R&D Highlight)

Nanotechnology has had tremendous impact on medical science and has resulted in phenomenal progress in the field of drug delivery and diagnostics. A wide spectrum of novel nanomaterials including polymeric particles, liposomes, quantum...
Jan 20, 2010 - Compact lever-drive accessory for manual wheelchairs by ISPA (Innovation Brief)

An innovative new lever-drive propulsion accessory for manual wheelchairs commercialized under the trade name NuDrive™ has been developed by the UK company Pure global Ltd. This innovation that is the winner of the latest UK prestigious...
Jan 19, 2010 - Breakable ampoules made from plastic instead of glass by ISPA (Innovation Brief)

The French plastic converter Seriplast has designed and patented an innovative plastic breakable ampoule technology to replace conventional glass-based ampoules that are opened by snaping away the neck. The innovative Seriplast ampoule is...
Dec 21, 2009 - Changes Affecting Medical Polymers by SpecialChem (Article)

A growing consumer influence is, somewhat surprisingly, affecting material trends in the healthcare industry. Hospital managers, healthcare groups, and the general public are considering the ecological and environmental effects of medical...
Dec 11, 2009 - Synthesis, design, and applications of dendrimers by Duane B. Priddy (R&D Highlight)

Dendrimers are very unique nanomaterials. This article provides an excellent review of the architectural design of dendrimers, their various synthetic routes, their properties, and their utility in medical applications. The unique...
Dec 02, 2009 - TPU with improved abrasion resistance and decreased coefficient of friction by Duane B. Priddy (R&D Highlight)

TPUs can be used in a variety of products and are known in the art for toughness, low temperature flexibility, strength, abrasion resistance, transparency and chemical resistance. However TPUs also show tacky surface textures (due to high...
Nov 27, 2009 - Hollow polymer microspheres by Duane B. Priddy (R&D Highlight)

Hollow polymer microspheres have several potential commercial applications in medicine (drug encapsulation) and as polymer additives (additive encapsulation and density reduction). New global developments with these exciting materials are...
Nov 23, 2009 - An innovative syringe rewarded at NPE2009 by ISPA (Innovation Brief)

A collaborative industrial project between the American plastic part manufacturer All West plastics Inc., the moldmaker KTW Group and the designers John Domkowski and Robert Oshgan has allowed to develop an innovative thermoplastic-based...
Nov 23, 2009 - Thermal processing of starch-based polymers by Duane B. Priddy (R&D Highlight)

This article reviews the thermal processing of starch-based polymers, including both fundamental science such as microstructure, phase transition and rheology, as well as processing techniques, conditions and formulations. The unique...
Nov 20, 2009 - Shape memory polymer composites and blends by Duane B. Priddy (R&D Highlight)

This article provides a thorough review of the work being done by research groups around the world on the development of shape memory polymers. The preparation of shape memory polymers/composites and blends is mainly to achieve five goals:...
Nov 18, 2009 - Innovative polyamide cardiac valve by ISPA (Innovation Brief)

The German tool maker Köbelin Formenbau has announced that it has developed an innovative technology to produce high-quality polyamide-based cardiac valves that do not require any post-production finishing and reworking (for instance to...
Oct 23, 2009 - Knowledge-Based Approach towards Hydrolytic Degradation of Polymer-Based Biomaterials by Duane B. Priddy (R&D Highlight)

Hydrolytically degradable biomaterials are being developed to enable the design of temporary implants that substitute or fulfill a certain function as long as required to support (wound) healing processes or to control the release of drugs....
Oct 15, 2009 - Biodegradable polyolefins by Duane B. Priddy (R&D Highlight)

Environmentally degradable polymers are the focus of a great deal of research around the world, which began over half a century ago with the recognition that plastics, particularly in packaging, were becoming a problem with regards to... (4 Member Reactions)
Oct 09, 2009 - Home-use device for breast cancer detection by ISPA (Innovation Brief)

The American start-up life sciences company PWB Health Ltd has developed a home-use device for breast cancer detection self-examinations commercialized under the trade name Breastlight™. This new medical device that combines durability and...
Oct 09, 2009 - The chemical BPA - a threat to human life? by Duane B. Priddy (R&D Highlight)

Bisphenol A (BPA) is a monomer used to manufacture many plastics including polycarbonate plastics, the resin of cans and other products with global capacity in excess of 6.4 billion pounds per yr. Because carbonate and ester bonds in these... (1 Member Reaction)
Oct 07, 2009 - Back forming of leather with plastic by ISPA (Innovation Brief)

The Austrian company Pollmann International, which produces components for the automotive, consumer, electronics and medical industries, and the Wollsdorf-Leder, the leather tannery based in Wollsdorf, Austria have joined forces to develop...
Oct 07, 2009 - PHA based bioplastics - a review by Duane B. Priddy (R&D Highlight)

Polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA) are biopolyesters produced by many bacteria and have been extensively investigated by microbiologists, molecular biologists, biochemists, chemical engineers, chemists, polymer experts, and medical researchers.... (2 Member Reactions)
Oct 05, 2009 - Single polymer composites: High Strength and Recyclable! by Duane B. Priddy (R&D Highlight)

Increasing concern for the environment has stimulated interest in the research and development of single polymer composite (SPC) materials. These materials are an emerging class of composite materials with mechanical properties comparable...
Sep 30, 2009 - Stimuli-responsive polymers and their medical applications by Duane B. Priddy (R&D Highlight)

Interest in stimuli-responsive polymers is steadily gaining increasing momentum especially in the field of Medicine. Drug delivery systems based on these polymers are developed to closely resemble the normal physiological process of the...
Sep 28, 2009 - Stock shapes made from PEEK for implantable medical components by ISPA (Innovation Brief)

On the occasion of the 2009 annual meeting of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS), The Belgium material producer Solvay Advanced Polymers LLC has launched a new range of stock shapes made from polyetheretherketone (PEEK)...