Medical Components and Their Materials
Analysing Medical Components and Their Materials
Types of Medical Components and Their Materials
RP Technologies has manufactured a range of medical components, devices, and equipment.
These medical applications have been used in both private sector and public sector healthcare.
We’re proud to have contributed to the collective effort to protect people from infection during the COVID-19 pandemic. We manufactured a number of self-testing kits which were distributed across the world. These kits have helped to save lives and reduce contamination.
But we’ve also provided a range of other medical devices to the UK market. Each of these medical devices has been produced with the utmost care, and with a strong understanding of the types of materials which are most suited to the application.
Medical components come in all different shapes and sizes, each with different uses and applications.
At RP Technologies, we’ve had the privilege of manufacturing a range of diverse medical components, devices and equipment over the years.
Here are a few examples of the types of products which we have produced:
- Surgical instruments
- Drug delivery systems
- Housing for diagnostic & monitoring apparatus
- Single use medical devices
- Wearable tech
- Prosthetics
- Handheld devices
- Ventilators
- Enclosures
The manufacturing process of each of these medical components and devices has been different every time. Each piece of equipment throws up a fresh – and often – unexpected challenge.
One of the most important parts of the process is to understand which particular material is most suited to the product. This will largely depend on several key factors. These include:
- Functionality
- Performance
- Aesthetics
- Intended Application
- Product durability
- Biocompatibility
- Secondary factors, such as if the part requires a particular finish
Selecting the right plastic for the job can be tricky.
That’s where we excel at RP.
We have a team of plastic polymer experts who are well versed in the injection moulding process. We can help you to decide which particular grade of material will be most suited to whatever it is that you’re trying to achieve with your medical device or component.
Each grade of plastic polymer material has its own set of properties. This is what makes it different. These properties are essentially the DNA of the plastic.
As a consequence, there are some plastics which are more suitable for medical components than others.
Let’s take a look at some of the more commonly used types of plastic in the medical sector:
Types of Plastic Commonly Used to Manufacture Medical Components
Medical components and equipment are subject to rigid product and quality testing methods.
The type of thermoplastic materials used must be medical-grade polymers. They must be fully compliant with industry standards and regulations, so that they can pass the necessary validation and verification tests.
For specific applications, temperature resistance, biocompatibility, corrosion resistance, and other factors will need to be considered.
Some of the most common types of plastic include:
- Polycarbonate
- Polypropylene
- Polyethylene
- High temperature plastics
- Medical grade silicone rubber
Knowledge Hub
Our Knowledge Hub is a treasure trove of useful information on toolmaking, plastic injection moulding, and CNC machining. If you have an interest in the medical components sector, either from a design, manufacturing, marketing, or administration point-of-view, you may be interested in our technical article, ‘Injection Moulding and the Medical Device Sector.’
Further Information
If you’re about to embark on a new project to produce medical components or equipment, and you need help understanding which grade of plastic material would be best for you, why not give us a call?
You can contact us on +44 (0) 121 550 5868, or email info@rptechnologies.co.uk.
