Both healthcare and life sciences applications - ranging from drug delivery devices, wellness and wearable devices, to single-use containers for biopharmaceutical manufacturing - all have one thing in common. They must be tough and durable and able to withstand everyday use while maintaining their structural integrity. To meet these challenges, Covestro, a leading producer of advanced polymers and high-performance plastics in the United States and around the world, developed Makrolon 3638 polycarbonate. This new material features multiple benefits, including:
- Durability from cryogenic to steam sterilization conditions with high impact strength and ductility
- Best-in-class chemical resistance to everyday chemicals
- Limited medical grade with biocompatibility testing according to USP Class I, ISO 10993-5 and ISO 10993-10 and meets the requirements for skin contact applications
- Food contact quality
- Ability to be sterilized using methods most prevalent in the healthcare industry
- Design freedom for applications that are tough and transparent, yet attractive
- Consistent and efficient processing for both injection and blow molding methods
"Every day, the healthcare and life sciences industries are hard at work delivering new life-enhancing and life-saving devices and therapies. We recognized the opportunity to meet a need by offering a tailored material with the property profile desired for these rigorous applications," said Emily Shaffer, Americas healthcare marketing manager, Engineering Plastics, Covestro LLC. Shaffer points out that by harnessing its global resources, Covestro is able to provide its medical-grade polycarbonates wherever they are needed all over the world. "This global availability, combined with our robust portfolio and technical expertise is why we’ve been a supplier of choice to the healthcare industry for more than 50 years," she concluded.
It is Covestro’s aim to become fully circular. Shaffer notes this material can enable circular business models by supporting closed- and open-loop recycling. It can also contribute to a lower carbon footprint with the possibility for attributed bio-circular content.
Polycarbonates from Covestro are found in some of modern technology’s most essential medical devices and play a major role in the development of next-generation, life-saving technology. Used in applications where strength, transparency and toughness are necessary, polycarbonates from Covestro exemplify the innovation, safety and biocompatibility that healthcare and life sciences designers and manufacturers across the world have come to know and trust.
