Plastics Solutions Newsletter

February 2008

In This Issue:

Ask The Expert
Gehr PLA-L Biopolymer
Tecason™ P XRO
Tecapeek PVX
Sintimid V
Tecapei

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Expert's Corner

Radio Opaque Plastics

The evolving surgical methods throughout the years, such as minimally invasive surgery (MIS), have increased the need for plastic materials with higher image contrast on X-Rays. Incisions are smaller for various surgical procedures, which are driven not only by post-operative cosmetic considerations for the patient's body but also to minimize the cutting of muscle tissue to access the area of treatment. The ability to minimize the amount of muscle tissue cut has the benefit of shortened recovery time for the patient. Plastics that are unfilled have a similar X-Ray attenuation to that of soft muscle tissue, this results in minimal contrast for the plastic instrument used in these procedures. Surgeons constantly use fluoroscopy or live X-Ray imagining as their eyes during MIS procedures, making it necessary to create materials that provide more contrast in imaging. The ability to view the plastic instruments with fluoroscopy or live X-Ray imaging also greatly reduces the risk of an instrument being accidentally left in a patient when the surgery is complete. To address this need, Ensinger Industries, Inc. has introduced a line of radio opaque plastics or XRO materials for reusable surgical devices.

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Lexan 9034

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Modern Magic® MicroFiber Cloth

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Gehr PLA-L Biopolymer

Modern Plastics offers Gehr PLA-L Biopolymer,a blend of polylactic (polylactic acid), some lignine, fatty acid and wax. This thermoplastic known as a biopolymer is based on renewabl raw materials, which makes it ecologcially harmless and neutral in the CO2-result. PLA-L is a biodegradable material that has good mechanical properties similar to ABS and has a higher stiffness with a modulus of elasticity up to 2740 MPa. The good impact strength at low temperatures and high resistance to polar solvents make this material ideal for the mechanical engineering, medical industry, food industry, textile industry, furniture industry, toy industry and as a replacement of PET.

Download the Gehr PLA-L data sheet.

Tecason™ P XRO

Tecason™ P XRO are thermoplastic shapes that have a radio opacifer added to the standard line of colored PPSU extruded rod for orthopedic sizing trials an other instrument devices allowing for clear visibility of the component on fluoroscopy and xray. The increasing number of minimally invasive and image guided surgical procedures have brought new challenges to the healthcare industry; Tecason™ P XRO can accomodate these new challenges.

Download the Tecason™ P XRO datasheet from Modern Plastics.

Tecapeek PVX

Modern Plastics offers Tecapeek™ PVX, an ultra high performance bearing material that is designed to run high loads and speeds, in hostile environments, either dry or lubricated. This formulation raises the continuous use temperature by approximately 40°F and increases the limiting PV while maintaining excellent chemical resistance.

Download the Tecapeek PVX fact sheet.

Sintimid™ V

Modern Plastics also carries Sintimid^™ V polyimide stock shapes provide a superior combination of high temperature and bearing and wear, properties that make it an ideal choice for the most demanding applications. This material is characterized by the long-term thermal stability, outstanding wear resistance, high creep resistance, and strength up to its continuous use temperature of 572° F. Specialty grades containing internal lubricants such as PTFE and graphite are available for applications requiring improved wear resistance and lower coefficients of friction.

Download the Sintimid™ V fact sheet.

Tecapei (Ultem®)

Tecapei (Ultem®) is an amorphous, translucent engineering thermoplastic with good rigidity and thermal mechanical strength for demanding applications. This material exhibits high tensile strength at room temperature and retains a significant portion of this strength at elevated temperatures. The retention of its physical properties at elevated temperatures are due to it containing glass fibers. The high dielectric strength and constant values of Tecapei make it an excellent electrical insulator. Tecapei can also be easily machined with conventional metalworking tools, painted, hot stamped, printed, or metallized.

Download the Tecapei(Ultem®) fact sheet.