From the resilient metals that underpin orthopedic implants to the versatile polymers powering drug delivery systems, biomaterials play an essential role in a wide range...
Polystyrene is one of the most versatile plastic resin materials and is found in many widely used products. This strong, solid plastic is useful in many manufacturing...
Polyvinyl chloride is the third most produced plastic worldwide, just behind polyethylene and polypropylene, and it is the most widely used plastic in medical...
Chemists and life scientists define polyamides as polymers whose repeating molecular units are chained together with amide links. These materials integrate hardness,...
Biopolymers have revolutionized lifesaving treatments and medical devices used in healthcare today. Scientists use these macromolecules to deliver drugs to patients,...
High temperature thermoplastics are melt-processable plastics with extreme heat resistance. They are also referred to as high performance or engineering polymers due to...
Unlike synthetic polymers derived from petroleum, natural polymers occur in nature and can be extracted. These polymers are either formed by addition polymerization or...
Synthetic polymers are essential in various medical applications as they are used to make a range of healthcare devices. They replace glass, metal, and other standard...
The word elastomer is derived from the term 'elastic polymer.' Elastomers are rubbery materials composed of polymers that can return to their original shape after being...
Acetals are easy to machine, general-purpose engineering plastics of outstanding dimensional stability. They are high molecular and high crystalline plastics produced by...
A fluoropolymer is a fluorocarbon-based polymer that has multiple carbon-fluorine bonds. Fluoropolymers boast of high resistance to bases, acids, and solvents. They also...
Polycarbonates are a group of thermoplastics polymers with Bisphenol (A) parts and carbonate groups in their chemical structure. Polycarbonates are strong, rigid,...
Dual sourcing is considered a hassle by some traditional medical device manufacturers. After all, the procurement process is faster and more straightforward when you...
The process of reverse engineering is demanding work: an analyst initially works with limited information about a product and uses that information to analyze it to...
The miniaturization of diagnostic tests comes with several unique challenges. The aim is to transform the fast turnaround time and specificity of Lab on a Chip (LOC)...
Polyurethane raw materials themselves have long seen use as dressings in the medical industry, but aliphatic thermoplastic polyurethane (aliphatic TPU) foams are gaining...
In the early days of disposable medical devices, the biopharmaceutical industry manufactured single-use films made with "off-the-shelf" materials borrowed from other...
The utilization of nonwoven fabrics in the medical field has outpaced woven materials in recent years. Even when traced back to their rapid adoption during WWII,...
Flexible materials combined with emerging technologies are at the forefront of healthcare innovations. Guiding recent advances are cost concerns, mass-production, and...
More than two million Americans are currently living with a lost limb. The use of artificial limbs has been around for millennia, dating back to ancient Egyptians....
According to a report from Textile World, 2018 State of the U.S. Technical Textiles Industry, the outlook for technical textiles is healthy as the U.S. enters the ninth...
"Smart" devices, appliances, glasses, watches, clothing, and numerous other items have flooded the market in recent years. The global market for the smart clothing...
The biosensor market is seeing tremendous growth, partly due to the aging population and the increasing number of people with diabetes and other chronic diseases that...
Developments in prostheses and robot technology have advanced rapidly, leading to the manufacture of devices known as 'exoskeletons.' These rigid devices, usually...
Materials used in the healthcare and medical setting must often carry the title "medical grade." But what defines a material as "medical grade"? Biocompatibility refers...
Auxetic materials are characterized by becoming thicker perpendicular to the applied force when stretched. This is caused by the way their particular internal structure...
Simply put, a composite is a material made from two or more materials that have different properties. When combined together, the chemical and physical properties of the...
As in most industries, consumer demand is driving the rapid pace of growth in this field. Also contributing to the expansion in the medical arena is the availability of...
Transient electronics, also known as biodegradable electronics, is an emerging technology being explored across many fields and for various applications. When used in...
Flexible circuitry has been around for 115 years and its versatility across industries is unparalleled. Its uses and applications seem almost limitless. In fact, the...
Many factors drive the advancements in wound care and the use of flexible materials in the medical field. Three major sectors are the aging population, increased...
Wound care presents many challenges to the medical professional. From the sheer variety of wound types to the differences among patients, a critical factor in all...
Drawbridge Health has developed a new way to draw blood. The company founded by GE Ventures is in the final testing phases of an innovative blood collection device that...
Foil can be used to hold, protect, decorate, or dispense a wide range of materials and applications. Its unique properties facilitate its use for storage, distribution,...
With the medical and pharmaceutical industries facing compounded challenges when it comes to corporate social responsibility, the transition to environmentally...
Technical textiles encompass a vast array of textiles manufactured for strictly nominal purposes where utility is the primary principle. Technical textiles are...
One application's material defect is another's path to functionality. This is true of graphene, when taken beyond the realm of electronics and applied within the field...
Biomedical Engineers at the University of New South Wales have successfully created the prototype for a new functional textile based on the interwoven complexity of...
Anyone who lives in a part of the world that has access to running water, electricity or sanitation services, has enjoyed some of the benefits of polyvinyl chloride film...
Analysts predict that the worldwide demand for medical foam will reach $31 billion by the year 2025. While many industries have used foams for years the medical industry...
Technical textiles are being constantly developed to innovate the way medicine is practiced and to reshape patient experience. However, textiles are something that the...
Getting from raw material to a final product is a multifaceted process that is prone to errors, inefficiencies, and delays. In the advanced flexible materials, the...
It’s Monday morning and I have 5 material sourcing projects laying on my desk that I need to work through before my 10 AM sales call where I need to deliver updates to...
Nonwovens testing of physical and mechanical properties are essential to determining their end-use applications. For example, if a nonwoven has high absorptive capacity,...
Supply chain management plays a key role in the success of any business. Building a strong relationship with your suppliers within your supply chain will allow you to...
Flexible foam is readily used in medical device manufacturing ranging from simple shapes of single layer foam to more complicated adhesive bordered foam or island placed...
This seems obvious, doesn’t it? After all, it's your specification so why would you let another interested party define something so critical to you and your...
At first thought tapes sound like a simple concept; a long, narrow piece of material that is sticky on one side and used to hold things together. However, in the world...
The process of online search and discovery has become a daily part of our lives. The days of walking blindly into a shop, picking through some things, and making a...
In advanced flexible materials markets dual sourcing is frequently discussed and commonly required, but how well it is executed is often times a different story. Most...
Material sourcing is a challenging task. It is both time consuming and difficult to identify high quality vendors of advanced flexible materials - such as flexible foam,...
Composites can be a tricky material to classify and standardize because by their nature they are not very standard at all. This can be a challenge for sourcing teams,...