Medical grade polymer

Medical grade polymeric materials are an essential part of the modern healthcare system. These materials comply with global regulatory requirements and are specifically engineered and manufactured for medical use. In our case, they are guaranteed to be available for a longer period of time than regular grades. This enables device designers to confidently design and specify products that benefit users worldwide.

Not all medical grade polymers are created equal. On this page, we’ll focus on some of the benefits of Advanced Polymers’ or COC’s line of cyclic olefin copolymers.

!In healthcare, purity comes first

COC is an extremely pure polymer – in fact, purer than most medical glass. Unlike glass, it has a non-ionic, inert surface to minimize denaturation, aggregation, delamination, and other traditional glass concerns. And when it comes to maintaining purity, medical grade plastics can be sterilized by all common methods. It is washable. Reduce risk and increase performance by maintaining the benign and protective environment that COC-based devices provide.

Compatible features for reliable performance

Many classes of medical-grade polymers are moisture-sensitive, meaning that device components may undergo subtle changes in dimensions and other properties when humidity changes. Medical polymer is not affected by moisture, and since most grades are 100% amorphous, dimensional accuracy is not affected by crystallization like many plastics. When accurate and consistent delivery is essential in a medical application, COC is the safe choice for solid tolerance components.

Transparency and UV transparency

Medical grades of COC are highly transparent and optically suitable to replace glass in many applications. The risk of breakage, which can lead to device failure and product loss, is greatly reduced when using medical-grade plastic instead of glass. Light weight is another advantage of COC.

Highly transparent to UV and visible light, COC is an obvious choice for diagnostic and analytical applications. We produce grades with transmission at wavelengths below 220 nm that are superior to other polymers. For transmission in the UVA and UVB range and even the upper part of the UVC wavelength range, COC is the obvious choice.

Heat resistance

COC family of medical plastics includes grades with heat resistance up to 170 degrees Celsius. In healthcare applications, temperature resistance is often important for steam sterilization of devices. Diagnostic devices using PCR technology may be designed to operate at temperatures between 90 and 110 °C. Wearables may need to function even in hot weather, or survive heat storage. With a family of medical grade resins that offer different levels of heat resistance, you can choose the product that best suits your medical device needs.

Chemical resistance

Sanitary environments can be challenging for conventional plastics. In particular, clinical analyzes rely on substances such as alcohols, DMSO, acetone, acids, bases, etc. COC is highly resistant to these and other polar materials. This makes COC the perfect solution for a growing list of diagnostic, microfluidic, and point-of-care products. Microplates, cuvettes, and other disposables use COC instead of PP, PS, or PC whenever purity is key for consistent results. Bone cement mixers rely on the resistance of COC resins to methacrylic acid, a key component of bone cement.

Barrier

Many medical plastics are poor barriers to moisture and chemicals, leading to a short shelf life. Medical grade polymers have exceptional properties against moisture and, as mentioned above, resist penetration by other materials. In applications such as prefilled syringes, cartridges and containers, potency is maintained by preventing leakage.

Detailed design

COC medical grade polymers miniaturize delivery systems and overcome the limitations of glass. New systems take advantage of the design freedom of COC. With amazing detail reproduction, high flow for complex geometries, and excellent dimensional stability, it has become the clear choice for tomorrow’s compact and lightweight precision delivery devices. Micron-scale details are molded into the COC to enable technologies such as microfluidics in advanced devices.

Processing

Most of COC’s healthcare customers mold their parts from our medical grade materials. In some cases, where a flexible product is desired, parts are assembled from flexible films made of COC. Growth parts can be machined from plate or other forms of stock.